The most annoying thing alive
by DarkSword512
Summary: What would happen if you stripped away everything about the Tails Doll, all of that cursed, soul-eating mumbo-jumbo and instead turned it into the most annoying thing alive? Probably something like this...
1. Too many chilli dogs

A while ago, I drew a VERY short comic strip of the most annoying creature alive (it's on my DevAccount in case you're interested :P). Yes, that includes the Crazy Frog (for those of you who know what it is). To reach a level of annoyance that you are compared to the Crazy Frog, then there is something wrong with you. Okay, I admit, the Tails Doll is meant to be evil, psychotic and obsessed in eating souls. But what would happen if you threw away the curse (which doesn't exist in the first place! Logic behind the conspiracy, I have found (Yoda style XD)) and replaced it with the ability to annoy people to death? Ermm... probably similar as to what happens in this story. This is a relatively short chapter by the way.

Mechalo City is in Sonic Riders. If there is anything about it I have screwed up, then apologies, but I've never played Sonic Riders. Sadly. :( I only know of Mechalo City from the trailers 'n' stuff. All I know is the roads are long glass tubes that stretch across the city. Erm... that's about it.

Underlined words are emphasized, _italisised_ is thoughts.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Tails Doll or any other Sonic characters. They are copyright Sega and Sonic team. And this disclaimer won't be repeated in any other chapter, only in this one because I really can't be bothered repeating myself over and over again.

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Chapter 1: Too many chilli dogs

Sonic ran backwards across the motorway that lead to Mechalo City as a pair of Eggman's robots chased after him. Their high-powered engines flared brightly, straining to keep up as Sonic pretended to look at a watch.  
'Are you going to hurry up and catch me already?' Sonic taunted them. _I could fall asleep at this speed. _The robots, although very thin to make them more streamlined, had very ineffective weapons and a considerably low speed. Sonic was only just running at one hundred miles per hour, occasionally looking over his shoulder to check he didn't bump into a car. He was in the clear though. Rarely anyone travelled down this motorway this early in the morning.

Just as Sonic finally considered finishing them off instead of allowing them to destroy themselves, he noticed something. _Finally!_ Sonic thought to himself as the two robots began to run out of fuel. The fire began to slowly blink out and they floated steadily to the concrete below. Sparks began to fly as their undersides scraped against the tarmac. Sonic stuck his tongue out as one last insult before he rounded a corner, but seeing as the robots had no way in steering themselves anymore, they slammed into the barriers separating the motorway. They exploded on impact and their parts flew in every direction as Sonic turned on the spot and accelerated to a more suitable speed. _There's the initial robots, so all I have to do now is wait for the main attack. Should be fun._

Sonic casually walked through the city streets, looking up at the towering buildings of Mechalo City. He passed an old alleyway, lined with wreaking bins and bin bags from the nearby restaurant, the smell only masked by a ventilation shaft that emitted the smell of many different types of food from the kitchens. Taking no notice, he strolled on by. Then something hit him. Something about the smell. He back-tracked to catch another whiff of the fumes. From the countless smells of various exotic and simple foods being emitted, from the natural smell of the city, to the scent of the large bins, there was particular smell that caught his attention.

Being highly addicted to chilli dogs his whole life, it had caused Sonic the innate ability to smell chilli dogs, no matter what masked them. Tails had tried this theory himself by placing Sonic next to a pool, blindfolded. He had told him that going one direction would drop him into the pool, while the other direction led him to the chilli dogs, which he had masked (along with the rest of the area to avoid cheating) with various powerful scents that would leave anyone else dumbfounded as to the location of the chilli-topped hot dogs and would have to go on guess-work. And probably end up in the pool. Typically, as soon as Tails had said 'go!', Sonic had rushed to the side of the chilli dogs and had devoured them in minutes.

Sonic sat in the restaurant, ordering chilli dog after chilli dog. The chefs, too busy to look at the customers, were confused on who was ordering so many chilli dogs. After the seventh one had been passed over the counter, the revelation struck one of the chefs.  
'It's Sonic!' he exclaimed.  
'And what makes ya so sure?' another asked.  
'My cousin owns a chilli dog shop in a small village near Green Hill. He told me that Sonic visits him often for constant chilli dogs. He told me he never stops eating them!'  
'So we're cooking for a...? Cool!' The second chef exclaimed excitedly at the thought of cooking for his number one hero and carried on with his work.

Sonic left the restaurant after his fifteenth helping. _I never thought I'd say this but... If I eat another chilli dog, I'll burst!_ Sonic continued his casual walk through Mechalo City, minding his own business. He rounded a corner to a somewhat deserted residential area and continued his slow stroll. He still had some time to kill before Tails would be finished with his problem, so the abnormal speed (or lack of) would let him take in the city-scapes a little more thoroughly.

'Hello!' A childish voice rung out from behind him from out of the blue. Sonic spun on the spot to look for the source, but no one was there.  
'Umm... Hello?' Sonic called back, but there was no response. He did one more sweep over the area before turning back round and carrying on with his unguided route as if nothing had happened.  
'Hiya...' Came the childish voice again. Sonic spun around, now paranoid, fearing he was now being stalked by a three year old.  
'Hey, whoever you are, c'mon out!' sonic said, looking around for any form of movement.  
'Down here!' the voice called out in a high-pitched, menacing tone. Sonic looked down to find a small, yellow and white doll lying on the floor. The head was tilted onto the left shoulder, but was also looking up at him. A red gem hung from the top, where a metal rod protruded from the forehead. But there was something else that stuck out like a sore thumb, that made Sonic burst into tears of laughter. The doll was a crude imitation of Tails.

Sonic sprawled around on the floor in uncontrollable laughter, stopping only to breathe before carrying on.

'I... I th-hahahahaa! I think I had too many... too many chilli dogs!' Sonic managed blurt out between constant, side-splitting laughter. The deformed doll merely stared back with an emotionless expression. Eventually, when Sonic was able to see clearly, he noticed that the two-tailed doll had not so much as twitched. Sonic wiped his eyes, occasionally giving out short burst of laughter as he finally calmed down.

'Is this... some form of joke from Eggman? His latest 'evil scheme' o-or something?'  
'Not really,' it replied in the same childish voice. 'Will you play with me? Please?' It added. Sonic felt this question very awkward – playing with a doll? A fifteen year old teenager with a doll that was supposed to look like Tails?  
'No,' Sonic replied defiantly, before turning on the spot and marching away.  
'Play with me! Please?' The last word trailed on for a second or so. Sonic huffed before turning round again. The doll was remained in the same spot, and he wondered if it was just some kids behind a nearby bush that was doing the voice.  
'I said no!' Sonic said and turned on the spot.  
'Why?' The voice was now ringing in Sonic's ears. _How can something I hear __every__ day sound so... so... annoying?!  
_'Because I-' Sonic shouted as he spun around, but abruptly stopped in mid-sentence. The doll was now defying gravity. It hovered just in front of him with the head still tilted to the left shoulder. Sonic jumped back in shock that an inanimate object was - well – animate.  
'Gah! How did you-?'  
'I can do a lot of things. Now, will you play with me? OR do you want to feel the sunshine?' Sonic stood absolutely still, with no idea as to what it was talking about.  
'Feel the – what?'  
'The sunshine. Play with me. Play with me. Play with me!' The doll kept repeating himself and Sonic quickly caught on. _If this is Eggman, then this a really weird approach. _Sonic stuck his fingers in his ears and walked away, trying not to listen to the pain that followed behind him, repeating 'play with me!'.  
'NO!' Sonic shouted losing his temper. The voice abruptly stopped to Sonic's relief. After a few moments, Sonic removed his fingers and turned round. The doll floated there, unmoving with the exception of bobbing up and down. Sonic stared in the black, emotionless eyes of the small doll, the gem obscuring the left eye due to the fact the head was still tilted.  
'Why?' It said after a few more moments silence. Sonic winced. He had no idea how much more he could take. Would it ever give in and just leave him alone? He had barely been with it for no more than a minute or so, and he already felt like this thing, whatever it was, to be more deadly than Eggman, when looked at in an entirely new angle. If this wasn't Eggman's doing, then whoever it was had one sick mind.

'Can you feel the sunshine?' The cheap imitation of Tails asked again and Sonic winced again. And the doll just stared back. The plain black eyes pierced him like a blade. He couldn't believe something so innocent was scaring him so much.  
'Yes...' Sonic answered. After a moments thought, he could indeed feel the sun beating down on his back. But he had no idea what this 'threat' meant. Would he be burned to death? Eaten alive, and the last thing he would feel, other than razor sharp teeth, was the sun's heat?  
'Do ya?!' it suddenly burst out.  
'I just-'  
'Do ya?!' The doll said again, zooming right up into Sonic's face. 'Do ya?! Do ya?! WELL?!' Sonic jumped back at this. And instinctively, he thrust his fist into the doll's face. It flew through the air, landing in an open bin and the lid closed on top. Sonic, completely bewildered, stood with his fist still out in the air, hoping upon hope that the doll didn't suddenly jump out of the bin and chase him down. Sonic turned on the spot, constantly looking over his shoulder as he ran to the doctors, where Tails was probably waiting for him. If he ever had to see that doll again, it would be too soon. Then an idea struck him. _If this is all one big prank from Tails..._ The thought of a floating doll with very awkward threats and looking weirdly like Tails with an odd gem protruding from the forehead gave him the idea that Tails had set this all up – feigning his illness to try to annoy him. _Nah, he wouldn't go through the trouble. Would he?_

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I told you it was short, didn't I? Yes, I can do long chapters (rolls eyes).


	2. It can't get any worse, right?

I bet _someone _out there has been wondering what this illness is that Tails has (well, this suspicion was confirmed by one of the reviews :P). Don't worry, all is in here. And probably somewhere else, but... you get the idea. The illness Tails has, I've had about 5 times in my life, so I know the symptoms off by heart (although the coughing fits (and another part which I won't mention) is just an added extra to make Tails' condition even worse – you'll see why I'm trying to ruin his life with this). Sometimes I can be so evil! XD The start of this chapter is kind of serious and sort of dark I guess, but there is a reason behind it. Just to let those who don't know, well, know, Tails is my favourite, so please, no fanboys/girls mugging me for making his life hell.

Thank you to dark leader omega, lucario cat star, GIGA-XISBASS, TailsLovesCosmo and stupidityismyname for this story's first reviews :)

By the way, if you want to see the comic strip that inspired this story (as I forgot to add a link on the previous chapter and couldn't be bothered going back), then go to my DeviantArt (you can find the link on my profile page. Would have put a direct link on here, but I can't -.-').

Photophobia: Increased sensitivity to light (you'll see why I put this here later – it's just to avoid confusion when it's mentioned).

And also, I don't know when the next chapter will be. I've recently got a list of GCSE exams I'll be doing soon, not to mention I'm behind on my ICT coursework and the deadline is in a few weeks, and they're all really important ones. There's about 7 or 8 exams in total, so I need to start revising. Great.

Read, Review, Enjoy!

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Chapter 2: It can't get any worse, right?

'Ahhhh,' Tails gurgled as the doctor put the classic lolly pop stick on his tongue to look down his throat. Things had gone seriously downhill for Tails. First, a recent battle with Eggman had caused him to sprain his right tail. It was wrapped around to his front in a sling, so when he sat down, it was rested on his lap. It was only useful for a blanket of some sort. Now, he had come down with a chesty cough that wouldn't stop, which would not only force the air out of him, but also would give him a very painful chest, causing him a continuous searing pain that would last for quite a while. On top of that, a headache that hurt badly if he so much as tried to think for more than three seconds, and an extremely sore throat. Whatever this illness was, he didn't like it. Not one bit. He had gone quite pale and rims had formed around his eyes, giving him a very sickly look, matching his current state perfectly. His eyes had all but lost their liveliness.

'Hmm...' the doctor pondered as he examined Tails' throat. He was a lilac Eagle, the features on his face neatly picked out and he whore a pair of short-rimmed spectacles that sat neatly on top of his large beak. He pulled away from Tails as the poor fox closed his mouth before giving out a short burst of painful coughs. Once he had stopped, the doctor said quite plainly, as if it were no big deal 'I think that you have tonsillitis.' Tails looked up at him with a look of utter confusion. The doctor chuckled, recognising that Tails had no idea what he was talking about. 'To put it simply, it's the inflammation of your tonsils.' Tails still had no idea what he was talking about, but went along with it nonetheless. 'The coughing I can't understand though... Maybe you just have a really bad cough right now?' Tails nodded in response. He had had the cough just before spraining his tail.

The doctor wrote something down on a prescription note and handed it to Tails, who tucked it away between the sling and his bandaged tail for giving out another painstaking cough. 'Give this to the pharmacy next door and they'll give you what you need,' the doctor told Tails as he tried to climb down from the seat. The surging headache immediately kicked in, forcing his head to fall to one side as he clutched it in pain.

'Thanks,' was all that Tails managed to say. His voice was croaky and dim, and talking caused him just as much pain as the headache. He had no intentions of going to the pharmacy until Sonic shown up. He knew that the headache would cause him to fall to the ground. Instead, he waited in the patients area as the headache continued to batter his already weakened body.  
'And don't forget, soft foods only,' the doctor called as Tails left the room.

He only had to wait two minutes (one of those minutes was taken up by an almost suffocating coughing fit) before Sonic had shown up. When he came in, he greeted Tails, who got unsteadily to his feet.  
'So what's the matter with you?' Sonic asked.  
'Tonsillitis' Tails strained to say. Sonic's expression was the same as Tails', but he knew not to worry about it, so long as it wasn't life threatening and it was treatable. Tails gave him the prescription, asking him to collect it as the back seat of the Tornado-2 was the only place he wanted to be in right now.

A minute later and Sonic was giving Tails a piggy back ride through Mechalo City's streets towards the airport, where the Tornado was currently being kept (stopping once for Tails to have yet another lung-crushing cough attack). _It really isn't his week_Sonic thought to himself. They reached the airport shortly after Tails' umpteenth episode of coughing. Sonic sat Tails down in the back seat before strapping himself into the front. He kicked the engines into life, and the biplane's propellers began to rotate and pick up speed. Before he steered onto the runway, he checked behind him to make sure Tails was strapped in. Tails' life-lacking, red-rimmed eyes were looking down at his feet. The sheer look of his eyes sent shivers down Sonic's spine. Not because of the fact he knew why they were like this – he had been looking at them in this state for a few days now and had grown accustomed. It was the lifelessness – it reminded him of the doll that had pushed him to the point of punching it into a bin. _Couldn't of been Tails who made it. He hardly has enough energy to think right.  
_'Tails,' Sonic said, trying to comfort the poor thing. 'Put it this way: it can't get any worse, right?' Tails looked up for only a few moments in a puppy-dog-eyed fashion before refocusing onto the tips of his shoes. Sonic bit his lip, hoping he hadn't hurt Tails' feelings, and then turned his attention back to the runway and began to accelerate, lifting off once he had enough speed. He yawed into the direction of Angel Island.

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The screeching of the tires sounded out as Sonic came down and landed onto the runway that lead into Tails' workshop. The sky above was a rather dark one, smothered in dark clouds. Tails, who had not stopped looking at his feet since the airport (with the exception of bending forward at yet another fit), looked up at the clouds. It looked as though it would be lightning. His ears dropped and what colour was left in his face disappeared. The one thing he couldn't do was make his house sonic-boom-proof. It wasn't because it was a challenge. It was because he rarely ever had enough time. In reality, he never made enough time. The spare time he had was consumed by tinkering with the Tornado, or doing other things.

Sonic parked up in Tails' workshop and climbed out, helping the distraught kit out afterwards. Tails got unsteadily to his feet, the headache making his world spin. Slowly and gradually, with Sonic's aid, he climbed the stairs to the living room. He crashed down on the living room sofa and switched on the television, channel flicking for something to watch.  
'So what were (cough) were you doing while I was gone?' Tails asked feebly (it seemed as though that this 'tonsillitis' had caused him to lose his voice) as he watched channel after channel flicker on and off screen as he looked for something that interested him.  
'Oh, some of Eggheads robots decided to chase me down the motorway, so I made 'em run out of fuel,' Sonic replied dully as he looked for something for him and Tails to eat. 'You want anything?' Sonic called over his shoulder.  
'Err... Any yoghurts?' Tails tried to call, remembering what the doctor had said, as he found a suitable channel. It wasn't much, being a children's television show, but everything else that was on was either a news, some boring soap operas or Tele-shopping. _Do people __ever actually watch those?_ Tails had thought to himself after passing over the third ones.  
'What was that Tails? I couldn't here ya!' Sonic called, looking up. Realising his throat wasn't in a fit state to be talking properly, Tails picked up a notepad and pen from the table in front of him and wrote down 'any yoghurts?' in large letters before showing it to Sonic. Once he had read it, Sonic checked the fridge and found one neatly sitting at the back. He removed it, took out a teaspoon from the drawer, walked over to Tails and handed him the food and cutlery. Tails took it and opened the lid, slowly eating down the dairy product. Before Sonic went to look for something to eat for himself, or for dinner, Tails quickly wrote down a note to Sonic saying 'doc said soft foods only'. Sonic nodded, understanding immediately before looking through the cupboards. Tails glanced at his sprained tail. He couldn't believe that his favourite past-time had been stricken away because he had landed in an awkward position from a fall and then his throat swelling up.

Tails went back upstairs into his room (surprisingly, without falling over, although he was very giddy) once he had finished his yoghurt and the children's show had all but bored him to death. He hoped that, with the exception of the occasional coughing fits, he would be able to find something to keep him awake until it was bed time. As he walked into his room, he came in to find something very odd. There was a small doll of himself on his bed pillow. He thought it was supposed to be him. If it wasn't for the large ears, similar colours and two tails, he would have thought that it was something completely different. It looked like it had just come out of a bin, with dirt marks and stains splattered on the stuffed doll's surface. Tails assumed it was one of Sonic's feeble attempts to cheer him up. It wasn't doing the trick, even when he tried to be happier, but he knew to be grateful for the effort nonetheless. He placed his notepad and pen next to the doll before picking it up to examine its weird features, such as the gem protruding from the forehead on the end of a metal rod. Tails wondered why Sonic had picked this design, rather than what Tails really looked like. He gave out a short burst of coughs before setting the old, stinking doll back on the bedside table before heading into the bathroom to see how peaky he looked.

Holding on to the sink basin, Tails looked at himself in the mirror on the medical cabinet. His arms shook slightly under the weight from his lack of energy. His eyes were as bloodshot as ever, and it seemed to him that the sickening rims around his eyes had actually worsened since he had last checked. His pale skin, to his half-delight, hadn't changed at all. Rain suddenly began to hit the window, telling him that the storm had finally started. He just wished his prediction was wrong.

Then something caught his eye in the mirror. Something white was sticking up over his shoulder. At first, he thought it was part of the knot on the sling, but he suddenly realised that it was moving in an up and down motion. Tails quickly looked over his shoulder to see what was behind him. All he seen was the bathtub. _Huh?_He thought to himself. He looked around for some form of similar object, his sprained tail spinning around with his tail, causing him a sharp pain at the base. He passed it off as a trick of the light. Or maybe photophobia was kicking in from the already pounding headache. Then his mind started to wander off, wondering why it was called a phobia in the first place – it wasn't a condition that made people scared.

As Tails' mind wandered off in many different directions, he hadn't notice the door quietly open and close. When his mind came back down to the here and now, he turned his attention to getting some rest. He had completely forgotten that he had not yet had dinner. He made his way back across the landing towards his room when,  
'Tails! Dinner's ready!' Sonic called from below. Tails placed a palm on his head, realising he hadn't eaten since this morning. He went into his room to fetch his notepad and pen in case he needed to talk to Sonic again. As he did so, he decided to ask Sonic about the disconfigured doll. He wrote down on the notepad and picked up the doll with it before heading downstairs.

Sonic filled up the two bowls of tomato soup, laying some slices of bread in the center of the table and then sat down. The creaking of the stairs told Sonic that Tails had managed to get down the stairs safely. Looking round to see the poor fox with his hands behind his back, he wondered what Tails was hiding. Just as he thought this, Tails held the two objects up. One was the notepad with the text 'what's this doll for?' and in the other hand, was of course, the doll.  
'Gah!' Sonic screamed, jumping out of his seat in fright yet again.

'PEEK-A-BOO!' The doll suddenly yelled at the highest pitched, loudest voice it could muster, frightening Tails out of his skin, causing him to drop it – right onto his sprained tail. For some unknown reason, it hit him much harder than its weight should of allowed it to, sending Tails into an excruciating amount of pain. Tails' eyes widened and tensed his entire tail, before falling onto the ground on his backside, cradling the injury. The shock of the pain had already taken over that of the shock of listening to a talking doll. As soon as the doll hit the ground, it quickly climbed to its feet and watched as Tails clung to his tail, while Sonic was freaking out. _How did it get here?!_ Sonic thought to himself.  
'I'm back! Remember me?!' The doll rung out in a childish sing-song voice. Sonic's pupils were almost invisible as he started at the doll in pure shock. Tails had finally gotten over the stabbing pain in his tail and focused on the crude reincarnation of himself. Tails looked at Sonic, still thinking it was a present from the hedgehog, with a look of utter confusion. The expression caught Sonic's attention and he looked over at the fox, replying with a shrug of the shoulders.  
'H-how, did you find us?' Sonic asked, focusing back on the demonic play-toy.  
'I followed you then climbed in one of the compartments in that plane of yours. And I must say, you have some very... interestingthings in there like a... diary.' Sonic's eyes really had disappeared now. It was quite ironic on the location of the only place his most prized possessions were safe, and that was in his own compartment in the Tornado. It seemed that the hiding spots in the rest of the house were too predictable for the fox that was currently cradling his tail. The only place he never checked was the very thing he would sometimes dismantle whole sections just to replace something or build something new into it. 'I didn't know you used to wet the bed, dreaming about being chased by Eggman in a truck Sonic,' the doll informed the room's occupants. At this, although shocked that the doll was talking, Tails suddenly perked up. The almost fearless ('almost' meaning his hydrophobia) hedgehog that Tails had looked up to all these years, envying the fact that Sonic could make a joke and laugh at even the most troubled times, would take on battalions of Eggman's robots without breaking a sweat, used to be defeated by a dream! Tails was also surprised that he had never found this 'compartment' before. If he had, no diary had ever existed in it. Was the doll making it up? Tails looked at Sonic, who looked even paler than Tails. _No, it's real alright_ Tails told himself. He had to bite his tongue to stop himself from laughing. He tried to think of some of his own embarrassing secrets, but none of them pushed out the latest scoop of gossip.

Sonic meanwhile, had stopped responding all together. He had already fainted after finding out his deepest, darkest secret that he had confined to no one except his diary. If he remembered this, he would have to remind himself not to write another diary in his life. His body was too tense to allow him to fall however. When it finally relaxed, his whole body fell forward onto the table in front of him. The impact flipped the table on top of him, sending bowls, soup, bread and spoons in every direction. The first bowl landed on the floor just in front of the table with the soup still in it, smashing everywhere and staining the carpet. The second landed right on top of the doll, dying it red. One of the spoons bounced, much to Tails' shock, off of his sling and landed between his legs. The bread lay splattered across the living room.  
'No fair! Cheap shot!' The doll called out as it flipped itself over to get the bowl off. It was now stained in red from the soup. That, added with the uncovered stains from the bin, made the doll look like it had just come out of a landfill. Tails watched, incredulous. He completely forgot about his sprained tail and his tonsillitis. All he knew now was the floating doll in front of him that seemed to know much more about Sonic than Tails did. If this was one of Eggman's dirty tricks, then he had reached a new level of evil. In fact, it was so new, Eggman must of created it when he had created this doll. Well, whoever had created this doll had anyway. If this was Eggman's, he would probably make it a walking time bomb and blow up the house rather than this.

'Tails...' the doll said in its childish voice, turning its attention to the poor fox curled up on the floor. The mere tone of the voice, as well as the oddly sinister look, told Tails he needed to run. Immediately, forgetting his illness entirely, Tails sprinted up the stairs at full speed, ignoring the headache. The nausea seemed to have disappeared in the blink of an eye. He burst into the bathroom before the doll could get upstairs. He opened the boiler cupboard and tried to scramble into the top shelf where the towels were kept. He had used this spot a few times. Some of the towels fell onto the floor as he tried to get in. When he had managed to kick himself in (avoiding sitting on his tail), he pulled the door shut and kept as quiet as he could.

'Oh Tails... Don't you wanna play?' The doll called out, hovering slowly down the upstairs corridor, trying to figure out where the fox had gone. 'Tails,' the doll began to say in a whimpering voice. 'I'm lonely! All I want is a friend to play with!' Tails rolled his eyes at this. He had heard similar stories like this from Eggman himself. Although they usually involved working together and then Eggman being a backstabber at the last second. Tails wasn't going to make the same mistake again. But he didn't have to to give himself away. His eyes widened as he tried to hold it back, the suppression quickly filling up his chest. His eyes went cock-eyed as his cheeks bloated up in the attempt to suppress the latest coughing fit.  
'Tails... I've got something that will make you all better!' The doll called out in its child's voice as it continued to patrol the corridor outside. Tails couldn't hold it in any longer. He launched into his loudest, most painful coughing fit yet. He rolled over, knocking the door open again, falling and coughing at the same time. Luckily, the towels that had fallen out earlier were stacked on top of each other, cushioning his fall. He landed on his left side, thankfully avoiding his tail entirely. The coughing, however, continued and he squirmed on the floor as he tried to catch any air at all.

The door slowly opened as Tails continued the painful attack. The crude imitation of the sick fox floated in and sat on top of Tails' squirming body. The coughing stopped and Tails panted, catching his breath, unaware of what was using him as a seat.  
'Well?' The doll said as Tails looked up. 'Are you going to play with me? Or are you going to feel the sunshine?' Tails looked at the doll with utter confusion. _Feel the sunshine? What does that mean? He'll burn me alive? _The very thought of being cooked to death by a cheap imitation of himself was almost unthinkable. It was just that element that put Tails into an almost petrified state. He lay stock-still as the doll sat on top of him, staring at him blankly. _I need to get out of here!_ Tails thought to himself when he finally pulled out of the trance, as the misinterpreted threat lingered in his mind.

Without warning, Tails reached round, grabbing the doll and thrown it at the toilet, hoping it would get stuck in the pipes. Without attempting to push it further or flush the toilet, Tails climbed to his feet, however unsteadily as nausea kicked back in and Tails waded from side to side as he made his way to the door. A voice gurgled out from behind him as the doll's hand clawed over the side, trying to climb out of its watery trap.

As Tails attempted to climb down the stairs, a short, yet painful, cough forced him to slip over and land on his backside once again. He bounced down the stairs in agonising pain as the base of his sprained tail ricocheted off the staircase on his way down. When he reached the bottom, he fell forward, unmoving, but occasionally wincing at the pain. He pulled out of this and crawled over to Sonic, who was still flat on his face next to the table. Tails bit his tongue again to make sure he didn't start laughing about Sonic's spilled secret yet again.  
'S-Sonic?' Tails stuttered as he poked the hedgehog hard in the cheek. Sonic suddenly came round, and look up to see Tails with a more curious than worried expression.  
'Uhh... Hey Tails... Uhh... What happened?' Sonic asked, trying to figure out why he was lying by the side of the upturned table. His dazed expression told Tails that he had been concussed.  
'The doll-' was all Tails needed to say (or try to) before Sonic remembered.  
'You didn't hear what it said, did you?!' Sonic asked frantically, grabbing Tails' shoulders. To save Sonic the embarrassment, Tails plainly shook his head. He made a mental note never to spill the beans, no matter how off-subject he became.  
'How do we get rid of it Sonic?' Tails whispered. This made his throat throb even more than normal. Remembering about reading somewhere that whispering gives more strain on the voice than speaking, he made a second mental note not to whisper for the time being. It would barely be audible anyway.  
'Err.. I don't know. I threw it in a bin last time.'  
'I just threw it in the toilet, would that do it?'  
'I think so... at least we'll be able to get away.'  
'What does it do anyway?'  
'Urgh... Annoys you to death. If you want to be insane, stick yourself in a room with that... thing... for about ten minutes and you'll be in a straight jacket in no time.' Tails shifted position. He didn't like the sound of that. He then burst into another fit of coughs. Sonic rubbed his back gently in the hopes of calming him down. He had learned this nifty trick from Vanilla. He just hoped he was doing it right. When Tails was finished, he said 'Sonic, I've got a plan.'

The doll floated out from the toilet, dripping wet. It was now stained red and brown from the bin and tomato sauce, and was now dripping wet in water that could be contaminated with anything. It looked around. _Hmm... How can I annoy them now?_ The doll's void-of-life eyes rested on the medical cabinet. _Ahh..._

'Okay, say it Sonic and get ready,' Tails strained to say, holding back what felt like another chesty cough. Sonic nodded and got into position next to the stairs, bin bag in place.  
'Hey, err... Doll... thing.. ermm... how 'bout we just call it quits and be friends, yeah?' There was a moment's silence before there was a sound of a door being opened. Tails stood in plain sight at the bottom of the stairs, trying to look as innocent as possible without overdoing it. It wasn't really hard when the sunken eyes gave him an almost permanent puppy-dog fashion. The doll floated down and said innocently 'You... want to be friends? With me?' It sounded as if much emotion had been put into this sentence. It could be, as Tails was doing now, just pretending, until the right moment came. But there was something in the pitch black eyes that shown he really meant it. Tails tilted his head to one side in bewilderment.

Before it could sink in, however, Sonic pounced on the unsuspecting doll, wrapping it in the plastic bag.  
'Ahah!' Sonic shouted, holding the sealed bag above his head like a trophy. Now to get rid of this thing for good.  
'Erm... Sonic...' Tails said, clutching his stomach with one hand and looking down at the floor. It wasn't a cough he had tried to hold back a moment ago.  
'What is it, T-' but without warning, before Sonic could finish saying 'Tails', the fox yanked the bag out of his hands, opened it (completely forgetting what was inside) and wretched inside. He fell to his knees, trembling, as the vomiting continued.

When Tails had ceased, he panted heavily, body trembling all over, as was natural. Sonic gave him a very concerned look. _What's next, seizures? _He quickly pulled his thoughts away from that. It would mean something much more was happening to Tails.  
'Ewwwww!' came a childish voice from inside the bag. Sonic looked inside to find the doll covered in Tails' vomit. 'Can I at least get a shower! I want a shower! I want a shower! I want a shower!' the doll kept complaining about it's current status. Mind, being covered in disposed waste, tomato sauce, toilet water and vomit, who could blame him? Sonic, partly to shut up the annoying doll, partly to rid them of the smell, closed the bag. His next task was to take this to a landfill site and make sure it was buried deep. He didn't normally approve of the sites as it wrecked many beautiful landscapes, but this one time could be the exception.


	3. The consequences of confusion

Okay, I decided to bring back my favourite (and only) OC from my story Hidden Abilities. His name is Artemis Prower (yes, he's Tails' little brother). Only he's not 4 in this, he's 10, so that'd make Tails – blimey – 14. So Sonic would be 21 O.O, Knuckles 22, Amy 19 and Cream 12. Meh, the ages aren't important anyway, except Artemis', just so he fits the part more. Artemis' little eye problem, as well as spacing out constantly and doodling on school work is based off of myself, but nothing past that. This chapter is set 1 week after chapter 2, so if there's anyone that doesn't read the author's notes, they'll be really confused :P

Thank you to lucario cat star, dark leader omega (had to do some research on yours, but I guess I should of just asked directly seeing as the answers I got weren't always clear), TailsLovesCosmo, neolight16 (who's Barry? Or is that a reference of the Chuckle Brothers?) and Blahsadfeguie for reviewing :) Sorry I didn't respond to any (except one, can't remember which), but I've somehow managed to stress myself out over the GCSE exams.

Anyway, enough of my ranting, read, review, enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 3: The consequences of confusion

Amy waited patiently on an outside table at a café for her lunch partner. Surprisingly, for the first time in living memory, the partner wasn't Sonic. The partner she had in mind knew Sonic a lot. In a sense. Her main goal was to get information on Sonic, like what his best interests were and what he hated the most (besides chilli dogs, running and water). She had originally considered asking Tails, but she had found out about his downfall and had hesitated before putting the phone down without calling as guilt had welled up inside her. It was lucky that his vomiting and chesty coughs were a completely separate, unrelated flu virus that had somehow infected the fox, but that had been quickly dealt with. The sprained tail and tonsillitis however, was yet to be mended.

So she decided to ask the closest person Tails, besides Sonic. He had been reluctant to come, but he had eventually agreed. Amy would have reclined in her efforts if she had noticed this, but her desperation on information on Sonic had blinded her entirely. Amy checked out the café's menu as her guest arrived. He was strikingly like Tails, although a few inches smaller. Also, his gloves were a light blue, that matched his eyes and the tips of his ears were white. Amy waved to signal where she was and the small two-tailed fox walked over.

'Hey Amy,' he greeted her as he reached the table. 'Err... Can we sit over there please?' he pointed to a table that was in a corner, away from everyone else eating their lunch.  
'I guess so... why, what's wrong Artemis?' Amy asked, looking at the young fox.  
'Erm...' Artemis shifted position, blushing slightly and looking up at the sky. Like his big brother, he had his own little pose of embarrassment, which involved curling his bangs around his index finger. Although being left handed, he always seemed to do it with his right, something he could never explain, or bother trying to. 'You'll find out in a minute,' he said awkwardly, avoiding her eyes in shame. Confused and suspicious, Amy followed.

So the duo sat at the table, Artemis picking the seat that faced away from everybody else, or at least obscuring his left eye. He double checked that no one could see his eye properly before feeling more comfortable. Amy quickly noted this odd behaviour, trying to figure out what was wrong. The waitress came and took their orders before setting back off inside.  
'So what was it you wanted me for again Amy?' Artemis asked.  
'I wanted to know what you know about Sonic,' she asked clearly. Quick and to the point, that was her plan.  
'That's a bit general don't you think? Anything specific, or...?' Artemis asked. As he finished this sentence, their orders arrived. They were burgers with chips, nothing too fancy. Artemis thanked the waitress, who gave him a friendly smile, before he tucked in, waiting for Amy's response. As she was about to ask 'do you know his best interests?' she noticed why Arty had wanted to sit here. As he ate, the left eyelid seemed to move up and down as he chewed. It was actually opening further than was normal, even further than someone who was going wide-eyed. Amy unknowingly stared, wondering how it was possible to do this. Of the six years she had known him, she had never noticed this. As Arty looked up, she shifted her gaze to the passing traffic. Unluckily for her, he was surprisingly vigilant, not to mention the sixth sense of the feeling you're being watched was telling him she had been doing just that.  
'Please don't Amy,' Arty said in an upset tone. 'It's why I didn't want to come.' The fox shifted his gaze away from her, down at the floor as if in shame. Body quickly filling with guilt, Amy's heart raced as adrenaline built up.  
'Oh, I'm sorry Arty, it's just – well – I didn't know, and I-I'm sorry, I really am,' Amy stuttered, trying to find the right words. She must have had a dose of luck recently, as Artemis' heart was as gold as Tails'.  
'It's alright, it's just I don't like people staring. That's why I don't like restaurants or anything, because there's always one person that stares. I like what it does, it makes me feel different from the rest of the world, which is a good thing, but...' his voice trailed off. Amy bit her lip as the fox continued to look away, slowly munching on his chips, eyelid bobbing in sequence. She looked around, trying to see if there was something that would tell her what to say. Eventually, she just went with the only thing that would come to mind.  
'So erm... what is it anyway?'  
'Oh, it's a nerve that's a little out of place, or something like that. I'm guessing it's sorta trapped between the jaw hinge since it's whenever I chew or open my mouth wide enough that it does that. It's quite odd really, why it only does it when I'm eating. Heh, I remember the doctor saying, when it first started when I was four, that it should of stopped when I was seven. It's been three years since I was seven. I guess the doc isn't always right, eh?' Arty tried breaking a joke to loosen the tension. Amy gave out a short laugh. 'I mean, he says 'always eat your greens, and you'll be big and strong.' Look at me, I'm not even at two feet yet, and I've been trying to eat those things for years.' Amy laughed again, as Artemis had swiftly broken the tension entirely. 'And it's the same with milk. 'Drink you're milk and your bones will be big and strong!' Doesn't help my eye at all, does it? A big and strong jaw would only make it worse.' Amy laughed even more, and Artemis stopped there, before he got carried away. He wasn't too good at jokes, but he knew how to break tension, even if the jokes were slightly appalling.

'Anyway, what was it you wanted to ask me Amy?' Arty asked when she had calmed down.  
'I wanted to know what you know about Sonic, like what he likes, what he doesn't like,' she asked, although it was more of a command.  
'I'm guessing that cancels running and chilli dogs?' Amy looked at him in a way that said 'obviously, now pack it in.' 'Why me anyway?' Artemis added.  
'Besides Sonic, you're the closest person to Tails, who knows everything about Sonic. Surely he's told you something.' Artemis sighed. Why did everyone assume this? It was the same at school.  
'Just because I'm Tails' lttle bro', doesn't make me his shoulder to cry on. He doesn't tell me everything ya' know.' Amy gave him a pleading look, but the one she received back was one of annoyance.

The two had finished their lunch before wandering through the streets. They had plenty of spare time, so they made a decision on getting Tails a few get-well-soon presents. They had found a toy model of a biplane that looked oddly like the Tornado, except it didn't have its name printed on the side. They found various things in various shops, collecting some of them for Tails. Eventually, they came across a doll shop. They only glanced at it for a second, thinking that Tails wouldn't want a doll. He was fourteen, why would he? It was only when Artemis had recognised something that stuck out.  
'Hey Ame' he said, stopping for a second. Amy back-tracked to take a look at what had caught the small fox's attention. There, on display in the window, was an old, ragged doll that looked like it had been put through a lot. A few threads hung from it as it seemed to have been attacked more than once. What was confusing was that it looked strangely like Tails (and, of course, Artemis), only with a red gem on a metal rod was hanging limply from the forehead.  
'Awe, it's so cute!' Amy immediately blurted out. 'We've gotta buy this for Tails, come on!' At this, Amy grabbed Artemis' wrist and pulled him into the shop.  
'Wait, Amy, what're you doing?!' Artemis complained as he was helplessly dragged in. _Now I know what Sonic feels like!_ He thought to himself, remembering the numerous times he had watched Amy drag Sonic by wrist, foot, quills, ear and sometimes even his tail.

Arty tried to wriggle his hand free of Amy's grasp with no success, as she walked up politely to the woman at the counter. Artemis managed to break free, without Amy noticing surprisingly, and instead went outside to wait.  
'Excuse me miss,' Amy asked, 'but can I buy that little doll in the window? The yellow one.'  
'Of course,' the shopkeeper said, walking over to the window and picking the doll up. 'We found it in a bin by pure accident just a few days ago. We wouldn't have picked it up, looking at what it had been in, but we cleaned it up and now it's here.' She told Amy the price, who paid and went outside to join up with Artemis who was looking up at the sky.  
'That was a bit rude,' she said as she put the doll into a bag. Arty came back down, after having one of his many moments of spacing out. He lost concentration very easily. This was evident in his school work as you could easily find various different doodles on nearly every page. There was normally more doodles than there was work. It was only in Art that these doodles were actually classed as work. Artemis zoned back in and looked at Amy.  
'That's a bit hypocritical, don't you think? Dragging me in like that?' At this, Amy sparked off immediately and withdrawn her Pico-Pico Hammer. Artemis was glad that he had some form of innate ability to copy people's moves exactly. This, added to a bit of practice, had taught him how to use his tails as a miniature chopper after watching Tails do so himself. He raised up high into the air, daring not to mock Amy further. When he had no choice but to come down, he would be in a world of hurt.  
'You're gonna have to come down here sooner or later!' Amy yelled. And she was right, whether Arty liked it or not. Although he had significantly more stamina than Tails and therefore could keep in the air much longer than he could, it would only be a matter of time before he would have to crash-land rather than safely. So instead, he perched himself on top of the doll shop they had just been in. he sat on the edge and swung his legs back and forth, watching the fumed Amy as she stomped her feet at her unexpected failure. Amy put her Pico-Pico hammer away and said 'maybe we should just get these to Tails.' Once he was convinced that he wouldn't be hurt, Artemis floated back down next to Amy and they headed to a metro station that would take them to Angel Island.

* * *

The duo sat, awaiting their train in the station. For a normally busy station, it was rather barren of life. With the exception of a guard that passed by every so often, they were the only ones on the platform. Amy sat looking through the gifts they had bought, while Artemis had lapsed into another moment of day-dreaming. Amy took a look at the doll, wondering how someone could throw it away. Then she remembered how Tails' old life had been like, constantly bullied for having an extra tail. This was probably why it had been chucked away. Just the thought of Tails before Sonic sent an extra dose of sympathy down Amy's spine towards the already sick fox.

Amy put the doll back in the bag and checked the time. There was a few minutes before the train would arrive.  
'Hello...' said a voice. Amy looked around at Artemis, who still seemed to be in his own world.  
'Was that you?' Amy asked. Artemis snapped out of his trance and looked around at Amy. From his expression, he seemed t have been having a good dream.  
'Huh?' He said.  
'You said 'hello' didn't you?'  
'No...' Artemis had no idea what she was talking about.  
'Are you sure?' Amy said, with a warning glare of 'tell me the truth, or my hammer is in your face'.  
'I just told you Amy, no. I don't know what you're talking about,' Artemis said in a matter-of-fact tone, but also looking slightly concerned. 'Are you okay?' He added, thinking she was hearing voices.  
'What's that supposed to mean?' Amy asked, but it was again accompanied by a warning glare. Artemis groaned and returned to day-dreaming. There was no point in arguing with a hot-headed girl, especially one with a hammer larger than himself and knew how to use it. The train arrived and a fair amount of passengers departed. Amy and Artemis felt more comfortable now there were people on the platform, instead of it giving the impression of a kill-or-be-killed horror game. This easiness didn't last very long as they boarded the train heading towards Angel Island. The train itself had anti-gravitational technology. It was used primarily to fly through the air to get to Angel Island. Without this, it would be almost impossible to get to Angel Island, with the exception of planes.

* * *

The train sailed through the landscape. Amy and Artemis were sitting in their compartment, discussing about Tails' illness.  
'Do you think he'll be okay?' Artemis asked, getting worked up. He cared for his big brother greatly – there was no one else in the world that meant more to him than Tails. He had suddenly begun to stress out, fearing for Tails' safety. Amy on the other hand, wasn't very fussed.  
'Don't worry, he's been through much worse,' she said, trying to calm down the fox. Arty accepted this, but was still rather exasperated. Noticing this, Amy tried something else. 'Look, Sonic told me it isn't a big deal, all -'  
'But if it isn't a big deal,' Artemis butted in, 'then why is everyone making such a big fuss of it?'  
'Arty, he's okay and he's going to stay that way. It's not a big deal, all it is is a headache and a sore throat. Nothing more. The coughing and throwing up was a flu, which is gone now. Stop worrying so much, be happy it isn't something worse.' Artemis took the advice and slowly lightened up by thinking happy thoughts.

'Hello...' Came the mysterious voice again. Amy wouldn't normally be freaked out by this, but the way it was said made her uneasy. It sent shivers down her spine, like there was an an impending doom behind it.  
'Okay, seriously Artemis, stop that!' Amy yelled. Artemis looked up, completely bewildered why she had just shouted at him.  
'What did I do?'  
'You know what you did, now stop it!'  
'But -' Artemis said before quickly making the decision of staying quiet. With barely a foot between them and no space to fly, an argument with Amy now wouldn't be the brightest idea. Instead, he went back to his happy thoughts.  
'Hello...' the voice said for a third time.  
'RIGHT, THAT'S IT!' Amy yelled, pulling out her Pico-Pico Hammer. Artemis, caught off-guard, instinctively curled up into a foetal position, tails over head in an attempt to protect himself. In the space of half a second, he was literally shivering in fear, eyes wide in shock.  
'Don't hurt me... please... I didn't do anything wrong, I-I swear...' Amy looked at the pitiful fox, realising that it wasn't him that was annoying her. It must have been something else. But what? She sat back down and apologised for her outburst, but Artemis remained in his protective ball. Amy tried to coax him out of it. She had even tried tickling him which normally cheered him up, even if a little, but this time he forced himself as far back into the corner as he could go. He wouldn't let her touch him. He was too frightened to allow her to do anything to him. Even just the talking made him back down further, even if it seemed there was no space left to do so.

He wouldn't take his eyes off of her. She had quickly put him into a state of shock where he was now too scared to do anything except watch for the slightest movement. If she shifted about in her seat, he would tense, preparing for another attack. Amy, on the other hand, couldn't look at him. She was too busy trying to divert her thoughts away from guilt of scaring the little fox. They sat for most of the train journey in silence as Artemis continued to cower in fear. Amy could not figure out why he was behaving in this manner. Did something once happen to him? Or was he just too scared of her to do anything? Maybe this is why Sonic keeps running away. Is it because he's too busy running away from her not because he does not take notice of her, but scared that she'll pummel him at the first chance?

Artemis, meanwhile, had no idea why he was so scared of the pink hedgehog, but scared he was. He feared so much as moving would spark her off. He stayed curled up as Amy gave up her attempts in talking him out of his furry protection. She turned her attention to  
the landscape, watching the sea glisten in the sunlight and the approaching floating island come into view, covered in trees and the mountain touching the skies. Then a sudden urge came over the hedgehog.  
'Erm... Sorry Arty, I need to go to the little girl's room!' Amy rushed out of the compartment, stopping briefly at the door to look at the fox. He was still curled up. He had actually become very tense because of her sudden motion. She swiftly went on her way, not wanting to watch anymore. How could something so brief cause so much damage?

He watched cautiously as she left. He felt as if she was going to turn around and hit him. He would have wondered why he was thinking these thoughts, but these thoughts of thinking were pushed out by fear. And something else.  
'Hello...' a childish voice rang out. Artemis looked around. It didn't sound anything like Amy, so he ruled her out. Maybe she was playing a practical joke on him?  
'Hello?' Artemis called out. No response. He shifted in position, now more uncomfortable than having Amy in the room. All of a sudden, Amy's foreboding aura now seemed like a home comfort, like a little child's teddy bear.  
'How are you little one?' the voice called out. One thing was for sure: he wasn't hearing things. But nothing was in the room. So who is it? He gave the small compartment a thorough scan, but no one was in there. _Maybe I am hearing things. What if this is what __Amy could hear? Or maybe I'm going insane? No, no I wouldn't have any reason to... wait. I keep cowering whenever Amy moves. Maybe I am... But if I am going insane, then what's making me? Is it Tails' tonsillitis? Maybe I'm just losing it for no reason, or because Amy threatened me. But Amy could hear it. What's going on?! _He pulled his tails in tighter to his body.  
'Can we be friends?' the voice called out.  
'Go away...' Artemis called out, eyes shut tight. 'Go away, you don't exist...'  
'But I'm right here.'  
'I don't care, you're not real, go away.'  
'You're no fun!' the voice shouted. Artemis heard the compartment door open and shut. What was worse: Amy returning, or Amy hearing him talking to himself? He dare not open his eyes, fearing that Amy would soon call some doctors for a straight jacket. That wouldn't be a very nice way to go.

The door opened and closed again. She must have gone to phone someone.  
'Arty? Are you okay?' Amy looked down at the fox. He was no longer recognisable as a fox, but a bundle of fur. Apart from one shoe sticking out from under a tail, you could not recognise anything that resembled a fox. 'Look, Artemis, I'm really sorry, okay, I didn't mean to scare you.' Amy started to get worked up as well now. She started to regret ever wielding her hammer earlier, and instead wished she hadn't over reacted to a simple 'hello'. Thankfully, to save her from despair, Artemis looked up. His eyes had started to water (Amy wondering if it was possible to get so worked up) but he was listening now at the least. He relaxed and wiped his eyes, but still kept his tails wrapped around his body. To give him that final sense of ease, Amy pulled him into a hug. Stunned, it took Artemis a few seconds to figure out what was going on. He rarely seen this kind of affection from Amy, unless it was on Sonic. By the time he could have returned the affectionate gesture, Amy let go. 'I'm really sorry for scaring you Arty, okay?' Artemis nodded. 'Are you okay now?' Amy added as she sat back down. Artemis nodded relaxing back into a normal seating position.

'So... what was it you were going to hit me for?' Artemis asked. He failed to realise that he was in his own thoughts whenever Amy yelled at him. Amy didn't know this either has her attention was continuously diverted elsewhere.  
'You kept saying 'hello' in a really annoying way.'  
'Eh?'  
'You first did it on the station...' Amy thought for a few moments. If Artemis didn't know what she was talking about then 'that wasn't you, was it?' she finished her sentence out loud. Artemis shook his head.  
'The first thing I had said on the station was 'huh' and that was because you asked me if saying hello was me.'  
'But didn't you hear it?' Again, the little fox shook his head.

At that moment, the door swung open. The occupants looked round to see the unexpected guest.  
'Hello...' the doll said for the fourth time. Wrong move, in Amy's eyes. She recognised it as the doll she had bought from the shop. Now she understood why it had been thrown away in such an aweful state.  
'It was your fault I scared Artemis, wasn't it?!' She said, standing up and spinning out her hammer once more in a fiery rage. The doll, completely blind as to what Amy's capabilities were, nodded in a mocking manner.  
'It was funny watching and listening, I only wish I could do it more.'  
'You do that to us again, you... whatever you are, and I'm going to do so much to you, the person that made you won't recognise you!' At that Amy lunged at the doll, swinging at full speed. The doll moved backwards and Amy narrowly missed, but she clipped the half-open door, which shattered into splinters and broken glass. And this was only with the edge.  
'Uh-oh,' the doll said, realising what Amy could do to him. It flew down the corridor, Amy hot on its tails, swinging the hammer wildly. Artemis didn't give chase in case he got hurt. Looking at Amy's anger now would send Eggman packing as fast as his large body would allow him to in less than a second.

'Murderer! Murderer! HELP ME!' the doll screamed as loud as its high-pitched tone would allow it.  
'There'll be a lot more than murder when I'm through with you!' The chase lead into the luggage section. The small area was nicely stacked with various people's bags and suitcases. It was also a dead end. The doll spun around, knowing what it's next displeasure would be. _Well, it beats being thrown up on _the doll thought. If the doll had eyelids, it would have closed them shut. Not having eyelids meant watching the entire hit unfold in front of it. The doll was blasted through a window, which shattered on impact and plummeted hundreds of feet into the dense jungle of Angel Island.

Amy returned to the compartment, now calmed down.  
'I don't think we'll be seeing that thing any time soon.'  
'And that's also one less present for Tails,' Artemis added.  
'Good, who would want a doll like that?!' Amy complained, crossing her arms. Artemis nodded in agreement, wiping one remaining tear from his eye.


	4. Master trouble

Erm... not really much to say. Although I have realised that this story is actually going to be quite short, so... yeah. Don't expect the chapters to go over 10, I wouldn't count on it. Well I've got something much bigger in mind right now which I want to get down to, so maybe it's a partially good thing.

This chapter is pretty short, sorry guys. Knuckles vs. Rouge though, with a bit of gender confusion.

Thank you to lucario cat star for reviewing once more. I think everyone else did a disappearing act. :(

* * *

Chapter 4: Master trouble

The wind rushed across its body as the unconscious doll fell earthbound towards Angel Island. The plummet would kill a normal person, but being a doll, it could feel no pain when the impact came.

The doll landed hard on the top of its head, directly on top of a sharp edge of a rock in the middle of the forest. The head briefly compacted before redeeming its normal shape. A small amount of stuffing fell out and landed neatly on the grass. The doll lay motionless as it began to recover from its traumatic incident. _Note to self: run the next time I see her. She's insane, and that's coming from me..._The doll stood up and looked around, taking in the surroundings, realising it was in the forest. A short wander around would most likely get it back to where it needs to be. If such a place existed. Until then, all he would need to do is what he was created for.

* * *

'LEAVE IT ALONE!' He roared, swinging another punch. The victim dodged and he smashed a pillar. It fell down the large hill, crumbling as it crashed against the rocky surface. His opponent, flapping her wings, hovered above him, teasing him greatly. The hot-headed echidna jumped up after her, swinging another punch. Rouge stalled at the right moment so she fell to the ground just as Knuckles' fist grazed the top of her head. It was a little too close for her comfort.  
'That's no way to treat a lady,' Rouge mocked, half closing her eyes as she turned to look at Knuckles.  
'Yeah, well, I wouldn't exactly class you as a 'lady'!' Knuckles yelled, fist clenched. Rouge's eyes widened at this remark. _How dare he!_ 'Stealing from a guy, or anyone for that matter, isn't exactly what I'd call 'lady-like'!' Knuckles was clearly, as per usual, not thinking straight. When he noticed Rouge's expression, he realised he had said the wrong thing. 'Hey, Rouge, I-I didn't m-mean it, y-you know me!' he said, holding his hands up in defence.  
'Too right you didn't!' Rouge yelled, before spinning into a whirlwind kick, sending him spiralling over the hill's edge. He just managed to pull himself into a glide, but not before he grazed his head on the ancient carvings. Swinging round, he then clasped back onto the surface. He knew he had dug himself a grave. Climbing out would be very difficult.

Knuckles climbed to the top. As his hands curled over the rim, Rouge stood over him. He looked up, expecting another hard blow to the face. Instead, she stood on his fingers, one by one.  
'If you ever call me a man again, I'll do a lot worse than this,' Rouge explained menacingly, slowly squeezing on each finger. 'Now say sorry!'  
'I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY!' Knuckles yelled frantically as his last finger began to swell up and become numb from the build up of blood. Rouge nodded and lifted her foot. Knuckles, however, didn't realise that one finger would suffice, causing him his own tumble down the rocky hill, scraping his stomach hard against the floor. He quickly dug the spikes on his fists in to stop himself falling further. His stomach had been rubbed red-raw, and their were a few spots of grazed skin. He pushed himself out slightly to stop the stinging.

Rouge stroked the side of the Master Emerald. She had never gotten this close to stealing the Master Emerald and hence hadn't realised how heavy it would be. It would be a real pain to try to fly with it. _I should've come prepared._ Just as she went to lift it to check the weight, Knuckles came over the side.  
'Hey! I said leave it alone!' Knuckles yelled as Rouge spun around on the spot to face him again. She gave him a look that said 'back off, or you'll fall a lot further'.  
'I'm not taking it... this time,' she informed him. _Some thief I am, not coming prepared_ she thought to herself. She smiled to herself before taking off. 'See ya later, Knuckie-poo.' Knuckles blinked as she began to take off.  
'For the last time, I'm KNUCKLES!' he yelled, going for one final punch. Rouge swiftly dodged once more and Knuckles ended up sprawled on top of the Master Emerald as Rouge took flight. He knew she would be back soon. He just needed to prepare some more and he would be ready.

* * *

The sun blazed over Angel Island as Knuckles walked in circles around the Master Emerald, looking for Rouge, waiting for her to return so he could give her a piece of her mind. _C'mon, where is she?_ Knuckles looked up at the sky, wondering where the bat was. Surely she would have shown by now? Knuckles' stomach growled. He needed something to eat, but he couldn't let the Master Emerald out of his sight. Hopefully someone would pass by that could get him something. Until then, he would have to deal with it.

A small, purple ball landed at Knuckles' feet and he recognised it immediately.  
'I was wondering when you were coming back!' he called out as smoke engulfed him. He jumped high and to one side so he was stood on top of the Master Emerald. Unexpectedly, and ironically rather typically, he missed the Master Emerald entirely and unknowingly stood on top of a crumbled pillar. He looked around, waiting for a surprise attack.  
'Heheheheeee!' came a psychotic voice from the mist. _What the...? _Knuckles thought to himself. Was Rouge trying to scare him instead of taking the Emerald. _Good luck with that, I'm standing on top of it!_

Up above the smoke, Rouge watched as a small, two-tailed doll came flying at her. Her initial thoughts were of Tails, but quickly realised it was too small to be him. A closer inspection found that this doll didn't look as much like him at a shorter distance. It was hurtling at her at a surprising amount of speed, despite having no propulsion. It let out a high, psychotic laugh as it continued its route towards her. Rouge casually threw one of her bombs at it, seeing it as a threat. _Since when did Knuckles use dolls? _She watched as the sphere burst into a fireball, engulfing the doll. Consequentially, this also blew away the smoke that filled the old ruins. Knuckles was now exposed with a clear view of Rouge. He then realised just where he was standing and hurriedly scrambled on top of the Master Emerald.  
'Ha! Just try and steal it now!' Knuckles yelled, raising his fist and smiling. Rouge looked down at him in an unimpressed fashion. It just needed one swift kick.

She dived towards him, spinning violently fast, foot outstretched in a second whirlwind attack. Knuckles got ready to catch her foot as she hurled herself towards him. When she made contact with his hands, the force on Knuckles was much harder than he had expected, causing his arms to buckle slightly. Both struggled to overpower the other, Knuckles strangely being matched by Rouge's strength, as well as the added momentum that gave her a slight advantage. The duo struggled against each other's brutality as a third opponent rose up from the side.  
'MEANIE!' called out in an angry childish voice. Rouge and Knuckles stopped their struggle to look at the source, to find the same doll. It was soldered and torn from the explosion, but there it floated in front of their eyes. The doll stared at them, bemused in their desperate attempt to prove who was better. Knuckles and Rouge looked at each other in curiosity. Rouge then realised that Knuckles' guard had dropped and landed a swift kick to his jaw with her free foot. Knuckles smashed his back on a pillar and slid down the side. Not wasting any time, Rouge pulled out a rope from her heart-shaped container on her chest and began to wrap it around the Master Emerald.

When she had finished, Knuckles had finally come round and stood up, rubbing his head to see Rouge preparing for take-off.  
'Hey!' Knuckles shouted. Fortunately for him, he didn't need to do much as the by-standing doll suddenly charged at Rouge, clinging to her leg.  
'Play with me!' It yelled in the high-pitched voice, causing Rouge's super-sensitive hearing to betray her. The voice reverberated around her head, pounding against her skull. She clutched her head and let go of the rope. _Next time, I'm bringing ear plugs!_ She thought to herself as the voice continued to bounce around her brain. Knuckles took the advantage and jumped up to hit her and send her flying off of the island. Unexpectedly, the doll suddenly let go of the dazed bat and hurled itself at Knuckles. Knuckles couldn't figure out whether this doll was with him or against him as it had turned on him in an instant. Knuckles quickly reacted by landing it a crushing blow to the head. For the second time that day, the doll was sent spiralling through the air. Knuckles didn't think of it a second longer after that as he re-engaged combat with Rouge.

* * *

The wind rushed across its body as it flew over the side of the large hill towards the forest's canopy. As it fell through head first, leaves were ripped from the trees, twigs snapped as they were ripped from the branches and fell to the floor. The doll crash landed yet again onto the grassy floor, skidding along and receiving grass stains in return. The doll lay motionless once more as it tried to catch up with what had just happened.

It continued to lay there as the battle raged on above it. Rouge had to swing round after receiving a deadly blow from Knuckles, who was gliding behind her in pursuit. The doll rolled over and watched. A second attempt at its goal could mean not seeing them again. Or anyone else for that matter. The doll found its way to its feet. Looking around, it found that it had landed in a clearing in the forest. With no idea in which direction to go in, it decided that going directly forward would be the best option.

* * *

Half an hour had past. Or maybe more, the doll had lost count what felt like an age ago. Or perhaps less than half an hour had past. It had lost sense of direction. The sun blazed high in the sky as the afternoon sluggishly approached. But the doll drifted on nonetheless, unsure of where he was. As he came into another clearing, a familiar sight loomed above him. It made its mind and decided it would be the best place to go to. At least there, he was more known and feared. And he could exact his revenge.

Knuckles and Rouge stood panting at either side of the Master Emerald, glaring at one another. They had suffered numerous cuts and bruises from the clash. The rope that Rouge had tethered to the Master Emerald layed in pieces as the fight had gotten danger close to the Emerald (both parties complaining about the damage that might be dealt if it were touched).  
'So... what was... that doll for then?' Rouge managed to say between her heavy breathing.  
'I thought... ib was yours,' Knuckles said as blood trickled from his nose.  
'What?' Rouge asked in confusion. _Why would I use dolls?  
_'Well ib's not mine!' Knuckles complained. 'Ib must be yours!'  
'If it's... not mine... or yours... then who's..' her voice, after another quick breath, trailed off as she realised. _Tails!_ 'It's Tails'!'  
'Err.. Tailb ib Fourdeen, why would he have a doll?' Knuckles said, subconsciously letting his guard down. Rouge thought for a moment. _Why would he use such a thing? He's the only person in existence who can match Eggman's capabilities in mechanics, why would he use a simple doll?_ _Unless..._ Rouge used her detective skills to spontaneously work out who would create such a machine. Although, if she was wrong, she could always try the next suspect.


	5. Friends and enemies

First of all, Oscar Award to Emo Tails doll (a.k.a. lucario cat star) for the fastest review I've ever seen. Actually managed to respond to this one this time :P Mind there was barely three minutes between adding the story and your review being received so... yeah.

Also, thank you to dark leader omega, Da Fixer (I like cliffhangers XD) and Tailsisreal for reviewing.

By the way, at one point there is a bit that says 'a coloured man'. I put it that way because I didn't want to be offensive :( please don't hurt me! Mace Windu fans will forgive me, right? (yes, it is a Star Wars reference). This chapter took slightly longer than normal because of GCSEs getting in the way of my spare time (curse you Government for making such a thing!). If anyone thought I died, then thanks, much appreciated (gives evils). XD

I guess I should do this. Disclaimer: I don't own Anakin, Mace Windu or any related characters. They, like the rest of the Star Wars franchise (I think) are copyright LucasArts.

* * *

Chapter 5: Friends and enemies

Tails sat at the table as he administered his medicine. His throat had considerably calmed down, but it was still sore and it was hard to speak. The headache hardly existed, but still had an echo whenever he walked. Tails gulped down a teaspoon of the orange-coloured liquid as a knock at the door came. Sonic, who was in the kitchen getting himself and Tails a drink, walked over to the door and opened it as Tails took the second dose.  
'Hey Sonic!' said the yellow kitsune at the door, clearly delighted to see him. Amy stood behind Artemis, both carrying bags of various objects. Artemis seemed a little unnerved standing at the door and was more than happy to come in when Sonic let them after greeting. He sat next to Tails, who hugged his little brother before letting him explain what they had bought him. Meanwhile, Amy tried to force feed Sonic some home-made cookies she had made for him earlier before she had met up with Artemis at the café. She had originally intended to come here alone to give Sonic the cookies, but after realising how much Artemis wanted to see Tails during their talk at the café, she had let him tag along.

Tails examined the small biplane as Artemis lay on his arm, waiting impatiently for his big brother's response. Tails noticed the sensation on his arm, looked down at the sky blue eyes of his little brother, looking at the excitement behind them. Tails smiled and gave him a one-armed hug.  
'Thanks Arty!' Tails said in a croaky voice. It had healed well, but, like the other symptoms, still lingered. Amy was still trying to force feed Sonic who had to keep dodging, complaining he wasn't hungry and had just eaten. Tails and Artemis watched, bemused at the odd struggle. As Sonic ran round in circles around the table, Amy chased in pursuit, not thinking of jumping over the table. A third lap had her lose balance and land on the seat next to Artemis. Still rather cautious about the incident on the train, Artemis wrapped in his tails and cuddled up on Tails' arm. Tails glanced down at his cowering brother, then at Amy.  
'Amy,' Tails said in a bewildered tone. Amy looked around, completely forgetting about the pursuit. 'What's wrong with Artemis?' Amy looked down to see Artemis' eyes peering out from in between his tails once again. _Oh jees_ Amy thought to herself.  
'I accidentally scared him on the train here, I'm guessing he's still scared.' Amy looked down at her now swaying feet as Tails rolled his eyes. _Typical_ he thought to himself before softly scratching a specific point behind Artemis' right ear. He had accidentally found this spot when he was trying to comfort the small fox on Artemis' fifth birthday, when he had been stung by a wasp after flicking it off of his finger. This one specific spot seemed to calm Artemis down, no matter what the incident was. It hadn't occurred to him that he hadn't told Amy. It would have been wise to, looking at her nature.  
'Look Amy,' Tails said in the wrong tone of voice, giving Amy the impression she was going to be told off. 'This spot here, if you scratch it softly, he calms down.' Amy looked up as Artemis began to relax, coming out of the cover of his tails. Amy looked over the white-tipped ears to see the spot. Instead of thanking Tails for the information, she merely retorted 'he wouldn't let me touch him! Even if I did know about it, I wouldn't be able to do it!' Tails rolled his eyes and continued with soothing Artemis. He knew that Amy was indeed unaware of the soft spot, but the way she had stated her retort made it sound as if she had not tried at all.

* * *

The familiar sight met the eyes and reflected off of the glass. The house was set in the side of the mountain that dominated Angel Island. It was time to carry out what it was designed for.

_But... what is that?_ It thought to itself, as revelation dawned in its mind. _What was I created for?_ For the first time in its life, it had asked these questions. Never known what its true purpose was. _Was I a weapon? Am I really meant to annoy people? Or was I just a child's doll that went wrong?_ As the questions with no answers streamed through, sense intruded into its mind. _What is this feeling?_ Forgotten memories were remembered. A girl. Hugging him tightly to her chest in her bedroom. And then a lab, filled with countless amounts of computers and a single, large tube dominating the middle of the room.  
'_What is it grandfather?' _a girl's voice called out, echoing throughout the chamber. For the first time, the poor doll was remembering. Remembering what life used to be like. But no more of these memories were recalled. _Amnesia? Memory wipe? _As the endless amounts of possibilities of what could have happened swarmed through. _What happened to me? What am I meant to be? _Its original goal now completely forgotten, it settled down on a tree root protruding from the ground as the new information streamed through its head, registering everything that passed through.

* * *

As the sun began to set, the occupants of the house ate dinner while the television played, even thought no one was actually watching and were completely unaware of what was happening. Instead they all talked between gulps. Amy and Artemis had missed the train back home. Sonic could have flown them back in the Tornado, but instead offered to let them stay the night. Amy was overly excited, partly because she was seeing the wrong aspect of the request, while Artemis worried about where he would sleep. Since Amy had the guest room, Tails had insisted on Artemis sleeping in his room while Tails slept in the living room. But, typically, Artemis had said he didn't want to be a bother and instead sleep in the living room. Both Prowers were now trying to persuade the other to take the room.  
'But you're ill Tails, you need it more than I do!' Artemis exclaimed after swallowing a mouthful of noodles.  
'I'm fine Arty, and you're a guest, you deserve it.'  
'You're not fine or you wouldn't be having to take that!' Artemis retorted, pointing at the small bottle of the orange liquid.  
'You know what I mean Arty, now just take my room.'  
'But it's your room, -'  
'Stop!' Sonic blurted out. Every head immediately turned towards his as Sonic looked from one kit to the other. 'Just stop, okay? Artemis, you're the guest, you take the room.'  
'But -' Artemis began. Sonic stared at him with a look that could cut diamond and Artemis immediately backed down and accepted the offer, then returning to his noodles. Sonic sighed in relief as the argument had finally ended and went to the kitchen to put his empty bowl in the sink.

As Sonic returned, he realised that an awkward silence had fallen upon them. Artemis seemed too preoccupied with his noodles (constantly checking whether Amy was staring or not) to come out with any tension-breaking jokes. Tails seemed to be slightly nauseated and Amy was just staring into open space, completely forgetting the bowl that laid in her hands. Sonic then checked the television to see what was on. Whatever it was, it must have been one of Tails' souvenirs from earth as it was comprised entirely of humans. Well, almost entirely. At that time, there was a room with three people in it. One was an old man with silver hair lying on a window ledge low to the floor. Another coloured man stood over him with a sort of purple energy sword that Sonic had never seen before. The third, much younger man with long dark brown hair with a scar down his right eye and in a black robe watched from the sidelines as the old man fired electrical volts out of his fingers towards the second, who was desperately trying to deflecting them with the purple beam.

Deciding that, after he lost interest of the Movie very quickly, a conversation would need to be started.  
'Hey, err... Tails.' Tails looked up at the mention of his name. 'Remember what happened last week?'  
'What, with that thing, whatever it was?'  
'Yeah. How about we explain it to these two.'  
'Um... okay?' Tails was unsure about the proposition, but followed through with it nonetheless. 'Last week,' he begun as Artemis looked up while still eating and Amy came back down to Mobius. 'There was this doll that was really annoying!' At this, Artemis started coughing violently as shock had caused him to swallow early, while Amy gasped. Confused at the reactions, Tails slapped Artemis on the back to try to help him catch his breath. When he was finally able to breathe at a steady pace, Artemis said 'a doll? Like, living?'  
'Yeah, I guess,' Sonic responded. 'Why, do you two know something about it, or...?'  
'Know about it?!' Amy said in a vicious voice. 'That thing made me scare Artemis in the first place!' Amy was quickly and violently flaring up.  
'A-Amy calm down! It's not here anymore, right?' Sonic was trying to desperately calm her down before someone else got upset as well. Luckily it worked as Amy registered the fact that the doll wouldn't be showing up any time soon and relaxed.

* * *

'So whab are we looking for?' Knuckles said through his still bleeding nose. He had hastily stuffed a tissue up it to try to keep the blood in, but with no success as the tissue had reached its limit and the red liquid had begun to leak out.  
'Any trace of that doll,' Rouge responded, looking around for the slightest disturbance as the duo walked through the woods. It had taken Rouge some persuasion and seductiveness to pull Knuckles away from the Master Emerald.  
'Why?'  
'I don't know, but we should look for it anyway.' Knuckles sighed. He really should be guarding the Emerald, but here he was, tailing Rouge on a wild goose chase for a weird doll. Times like this made him wonder whether he would ever be able to just kick back and relax for days on end, just him and the Master Emerald atop the stone hill.

_Maybe... no. They tried that before and then caught me in that bag._ The doll was still sat on the tree root, trying to decide on what to do. It had first considered becoming friends with everyone, but after what had happened the week before, it was probably not the best idea. But seeing as it was probably the only option there was no choice. _I guess it's worth trying. Well, here I go!_ At that, the doll floated up through the canopy and towards the workshop where the answer to sanity, or the result of eternal rejection, lay.  
'What's this?' Rouge thought out loud as she picked up a small tuft of stuffing on the floor by a large rock and examined it. 'Stuffing for a doll... it's been here.'  
'Well buh,' Knuckles said sarcastically. In return, Rouge turned round and slapped him hard across the face. 'Ow! Whab was thab for?!' Knuckles complained as he rubbed his reddening cheek.  
'For the snide comment,' Rouge retorted as she turned her attention back to the small white clump.  
'Hybrocite,' Knuckles muttered under his breath. Despite her highly sensitive hearing, Knuckles was surprised she hadn't heard the insult. Instead, she looked around for any footprints, or some form of sign that would lead to the direction of the doll, or where it came from. Unfortunately, since it floated rather than walked, no such sign existed. Rouge, annoyed that her investigation had got her nowhere, stomped her foot hard on the ground. Knuckles was tempted to taunt her, but thought otherwise after he remembered the stinging sensation on his face.

* * *

'Seen it? We bought it from a shop this morning. It looked like Tails, so we thought he would like it.' Artemis had been explaining to Sonic where they had found the doll. The thought of the doll knowing Sonic's little secret was still engraved in the hedgehog's head. He needed to get a hold of it and make sure it never repeated those words to anyone. He could trust Tails with it, since he knew that Tails would never give away that sort of information, so long as some of his babbling doesn't somehow lead to the subject. He hadn't given away any of Sonic's secrets thus far, and was certain he wouldn't start now.  
'Are you sure? What did it look like?' Tails asked, thinking that maybe, if highly unlikely, they were thinking of something entirely different.  
'It looked just like you only it was a doll, obviously, with a metal rod coming through its head with a gem on the end. Its ears were rounded and it looked really old with some of the thread dangling or missing from it.'  
'That's it alright,' Tails concluded. 'So where did it go?' he then added, curious on the doll's current location.

Artemis and Amy looked at each other, having no idea where it had actually gone.  
'Erm,' Amy started. 'Somewhere on this island I guess. I kinda... hit it outta the window...' her voice trailed off as she twiddled her thumbs and looked up at the ceiling.  
'So... it could be... anywhere?' Sonic said frightfully, as the very thought of the doll being anywhere, telling anyone about his embarrassing dreams, and who knows what else was in the diary, right at this instant. 'We need to find it!' Sonic then exclaimed, jumping to his feet with a stern face.  
'Why?' Artemis asked, confused on Sonic's reaction.  
'It... er...' Sonic quickly tried to think of some form of excuse to hunt down the doll. 'It eats people's souls!'  
'WHAT?!' Artemis yelled, immediately stunned at this information. Amy, on the other hand, had her mouth hung open in a dumb-founded fashion.  
'Yeah.. er... when it's annoying you, it, er, uses those moments to eat your soul,' Sonic concluded in a matter-of-fact tone. He would have started questioning himself as to why he had come up with this idea, but then decided now was not the time.

Artemis clutched at his chest as if doing so would keep his soul within himself. Fearing that a chunk must have already been bitten out of it, Artemis started shaking in fear of the thought that his soul was now slowly deteriorating. He curled up in a small ball, feet to his chest and lay on the sofa. _Oh... erm... uh-oh_ Sonic thought as he looked at the hysterical kit. The other one, meanwhile, was giving him a stern glare that he had never seen from Tails before. He could almost hear the grinding of Tails' teeth as annoyance quickly welled up inside him because Sonic had decided to come up with such an idea. Amy still seemed to be catching up as she was still gaping. Sonic tried to hide his sudden embarrassment from coming up with the sporadic idea.

A long silence fell upon them as Tails silently stared down Sonic, Artemis quivered in fear and Amy still trying to register the lie. The silence was only broken by one of the characters on the television saying 'execute Order 66'. Had anyone been listening to it, only Tails would have actually understood it, seeing as he was the only one to have watched the film. Then, three knocks at the door.  
'Who...?' Sonic wondered as he turned round to the door.

_

* * *

_

_That's a lot of stairs for a small house _the doll thought to itself, looking up at the flight. It wasn't particularly a large set of stairs, but compared to the small house, they were huge. Most of the house was in fact built inside the mountain (mainly the workshop) making it seem larger inside than out. The doll made its way up the stairs, thinking over in its head what it would say. First, an apology would be made. Then a request to become friends. If that didn't work however, it was unclear of what it should do next.

Reaching the door, it took one big imaginary breath (having no mouth, lungs or diaphragm made such an action impossible, so imagination was all that could simulate it) and knocked hard three times on the door. A short pause was all that was needed before the door opened with Sonic standing at the doorway.

As Sonic opened the door and the doll was revealed to all those within the house, a sinister song began to play at that very moment. Before anyone reacted to the sudden appearance of the so-called soul devouring doll, they all (including the doll, but with the exception of Sonic) looked round to see the commotion on the television. A man in a dark cloak, followed by a battalion of troops in white and blue armour climbed a flight of stairs towards the entrance to a large building. The odd timing of this sinister music, followed by the arrival of the uninvited guest that had so recently been accused of supernatural powers beyond reality fitted together perfectly and made the darkening of the doorstep ever darker. Artemis initially shrieked in an abnormally high-pitched tone, before making a dash for the stairs, screaming something to do with the doll being the devil's son's play toy. Amy had relatively done the same, but instead of screaming and running for the stairs, she instead screamed and pulled out her Pico-Pico Hammer, ready to send the doll flying far over the edge of Angel Island into the sea below if the need occurred. Tails, however, groaned, knowing it could cause no real harm and realising it hadn't actually been as annoying as was depicted. Sonic, meanwhile, had not noticed where the dark orchestral music was coming from and instead thought that it was resonating from the doll itself. He put up his hands in defence, blocking his head with both arms in a boxer-like fashion, poised to strike.

'Wait!' the doll yelled, floating a pace back. 'I-I'm not here to cause trouble!  
''Damn right you are!' Amy yelled, quickly flaring up and raising her hammer high above her head.  
'N-no really, I'm not! I-I just wanna be friends!' had the doll had real eyes, tears would start to slowly etch down its face. However, the emotion was reflected strongly in its tone. Unfortunately, for the doll's part, no one had who was ready to fight had seen this. Sonic would normally have believed him, but he was still thinking about the embarrassing secret that the doll had acquired from his diary entries.  
'Amy, knock 'em out, but don't send him too far,' Sonic commanded. Tails slapped his forehead with the palm of his hand as the rash decision was instantaneously carried out. A simple club to the head before the doll could react sent it spiralling down the stairs. Oddly enough, at this time, the figure in the cloak had taken out a blue glowing beam from under his sleeve as a small child took a step back in fright. _Exactly what's happening here_ Tails thought to himself. _Actions that are uncalled for and dire consequences. Well, if this all happens like Star Wars does, then doll will come out on top. Good for him too, Sonic needs a slap from reality every now and then. He can't always win._ Tails reached over to the table to take that day's second dosage of the medicine, while Amy and Sonic cautiously descended the flight of stairs.

* * *

'Where could it have gone?' Rouge wondered out loud. She had been pacing back and forth so much that the grass below her feet had permanently flattened. Knuckles had had to replace his tissue and was looking for somewhere to drop the used one. Even if he wasn't the cleanest of Mobians, he respected the surrounding nature with utmost care, and littering would simply not do for him. He had once yelled at Eggman as he had attempted to invade Angel Island once for the Master Emerald. Instead of going for the robots surrounding him, because of the single sweet wrapper that lay on the floor, Knuckles had landed a deadly punch into the Eggpod, sending the doctor spiralling over the side of the Island. 'Maybe that way... or that way?' Rouge continued to vocally ponder as she looked up at the skyline for any landmarks that might have attracted the doll. And there it was. Just peaking out over the canopy was the house occupied by Sonic and Tails. _Looks like Sonic and foxy-boy are in for a little visit._  
'Err... Rouge?' Knuckles said from behind the bat. 'You couldn't put this in your breast pocket could ya? There's no bins around.' Rouge's eyes narrowed at this comment. Knuckles, meanwhile, was trying to figure out how what he had said was the wrong thing to say.

'GAH!' Knuckles' yelp in pain shattered the calmness of the Island as Flickies scattered in every direction.


	6. Freedom

Thank you to Midnight rebel spy (lucario, stop changing your name, I can't keep up :P) and Tailsisreal for reviewing.

There's two scene in this chapter that I am SO tempted to draw! They're so cute, not even that AoStH Tails Doll I drew from one of the episodes can be cuter than them. I just hope I draw them right when I do (hands gestures is what I'm worried about).

Chapter title isn't too good but I couldn't think of one.

Don't know what to say except read, review, enjoy... so... yeah.

* * *

Chapter 6: Freedom

Curled up under the sheets in an orange-yellow and white fur ball, Artemis kept his eyes shut tight, although a tear or two managed to seep through the almost air-tight gaps. He nibbled at the corner of the covers as something to bite on, trying to relieve himself of the fear with little success. The thought of his soul being devoured by a simple doll that was smaller than him just wouldn't be pushed out of his mind. Images of the doll growing to an enormous size, bearing deadly sharp teeth and Artemis falling back into a corner in yet another defensive ball. In the image, he closed his eyes, hoping it would go away, but he could feel something leaving his chest, something precious to him, something he could never live without.

Artemis opened his eyes abruptly to the darkness of under the sheets, broken only by what little light that's able to get through the cover. He couldn't decide what was worse at the moment: real life, or his imagination?  
'Arty?' a voice came through the door. Artemis, startled by the intrusion, pulled the covers off of his face.  
'W-who's there?' Artemis said, worried that it could somehow be the door.  
'It's me, Tails. Is it okay if I come in?'

Tails himself thought this was a stupid question to ask. This was, after all, his room, why should he be denied entry? Still, it could be an intrusion into the younger kit's privacy in case he had ended up in a highly embarrassing situation.  
'Y-yeah,' Artemis stuttered. Tails pushed down the handle and pushed the door open. There Artemis was on the bed, sitting with his legs pulled to his stomach and hands interlinked around them. His chin was rested on his knees and fear filled his eyes. Tails, sympathetic, sat down next to him.  
'It's okay, ya know,' Tails said in a soothing, if not slightly croaking, voice, trying to keep his little brother calm. 'It can't hurt ya.'  
'But Sonic just said it can... He said it eats your soul, you heard him, you was there!' Artemis said, not thinking his words through properly and not noticing his grammar mistake. Tails did however and knew that he was now stressing out.  
'Hey,' Tails said in the same calm voice as a moment ago. 'He's not telling the truth, okay?' Tails picked up Artemis with both hands and sat him on his lap. He was glad Amy and Sonic were outside, 'dealing' with the doll, as this situation would most likely embarrass both himself and Artemis.

Tails began to softly scratch the soft spot behind his ear. But it wasn't that that soothed Artemis. To him, it was being close to his brother, to be able to snuggle up to his arm and get comfortable. He felt that his worries would just wash away into nothingness when Tails did what he thought any big brother would do to a troubled sibling. As he closed his eyes, the image that had sprung to his mind a moment ago returned. He was in the same position, the same corner with the same doll towering above him with razor sharp teeth. But this one was different. That precious something in his chest had remained with him, it hadn't deserted him. He suddenly felt like the bravest and strongest person to have ever lived and the doll began to shrink, suddenly cowering before him. This was the infinite effect that Tails' presence gave him. No one else on Mobius could give him such comfort.

Tails looked down at the cub that was now getting comfortable between his arm and chest while he scratched at his soft spot. He looked around awkwardly, hoping no one was watching. He could feel his cheeks getting warmer. _Oh great, I'm blushing!_ Artemis, however, didn't seem to care as he started rub his head against Tails' white-furred chest, making himself comfortable.  
'Erm... Arty...' Tails whispered. His throat throbbed slightly more than normal when he whispered.  
'Hmm?' Artemis said in an almost dreamy voice to Tails' ever increasing embarrassment. He felt like someone with his girlfriend's head rested against him in a form of love much different from a brotherly bonding that they were supposed to be sharing. His cheeks continued to get hotter and hotter to almost boiling point.  
'Do you.. mind... getting off?'

Artemis opened his eyes and looked up to find Tails rubbing the back of his head and his cheeks had turned a blood red. He chuckled as he climbed down from Tails' lap.  
'Sorry... I started day dreaming again. Sorry to embarrass...' the word itself caught his attention, thinking about how much the situation would have embarrassed himself as well. 'No one seen that... right?' Artemis suddenly asked. Tails shook his head as his face began to die down and return to its normal colour. Silently, they went downstairs to join the other two.

* * *

Sonic looked down at the doll, sprawled on the ground at the bottom of the stairs. Smouldered, battered, dirty and torn, it was now in a really bad state, like it had been through a furnace, followed by a trash compactor. Amy thought it couldn't possibly be in a worse state if it tried.  
'Don't hurt me!' the doll suddenly yelled, seeing the over-sized hammer still drawn. Sitting bolt upright, it turned around onto all fours and tried to scramble away from the two hedgehogs. Sonic stamped on one of the tails to stop it from running away.  
'Where should I hit 'em next?' Amy said, making a comical shotgun loading action on the handle of the Pico-Pico Hammer. The doll frantically tried to pull free from Sonic's shoe as the hammer's shadow covered him. Sonic raised his arm to stop Amy from attacking again.  
'What should we do with him then?' Amy asked, lowering the oversized mallet. Sonic thought this over for a few moments. Then he decided on his next course of action. He bent low over the doll and whispered something in its rounded ear. Then he stood back up and the doll stared at him for a few seconds. Amy, for a moment, thought he had threatened it, as its ability to show emotions, or lack thereof, told her he had done something along those lines. But then -  
'Oh yeah, I forgot about that! Hey Pinky, guess – mmph!' Sonic, realising he had made the worst mistake possible, quickly planted his free foot into the doll's face, silencing it. The doll struggled frantically as Sonic tried to keep his balance on such a small area.  
'Sonic, what was he gonna say?' Amy asked.  
'Heheh, it's noting Amy, don't worry about it!' Despite being continuously blinded by love for the blue hedgehog, Amy could tell that Sonic wasn't telling her the truth as he looked over his shoulder to her with a rather sheepish grin while the doll continued to struggle, making muffles sounds from under Sonic's shoe.

Tails and Artemis descended the stairs towards them and Sonic gave them a short wave, returned by Artemis, who's over-enthusiastic nature had returned as he waved back with a large grin on his face. Tails joined Sonic's side while Artemis hung back to watch from a safer distance. It wasn't the doll that was scaring him, it was Amy's mallet that was still in her hands that had yet again unnerved him. He watched as the doll struggled to get out from under Sonic's footwear.  
'Can someone please tell me what's going on?!' Amy said without greeting either one of the kits and instead putting her hands on her hips. And so did Artemis in a fashion uncannily similar to the pink hedgehog's. 'We just came here to see Tails and now we have to deal with a soul-eating doll... thing!' She glared at Sonic, demanding an answer, while one of her feet was raised upwards as if she were stretching. Again, Artemis copied this, from general posture to facial expression. Tails noticed what his little brother was doing and bit his tongue to stop himself from laughing as the now mischievous fox started playing his old tricks. Unbeknownst to Amy, every action she did, Artemis copied exactly, right behind her back. If she were to turn around, Artemis knew he would be in deep trouble and would have to find some way in staying up in the air for quite some time, but he couldn't help himself. After Sonic, who was also trying not to laugh, had explained to Amy that they knew as much as she did, she stamped her foot down hard on the ground, turned her nose up to the air with her eyes shut tight, arms crossed and bottom lip jutted out, mimicked perfectly by Artemis, only he had one eye open to make sure she didn't turn around. Sonic and Tails looked at each other as they struggled to keep a straight face.

Amy lowered her head and placed a palm to her head before saying 'I need a drink, one moment.' Before she turned round, she said 'anyone else want one?' Due to her abnormal politeness to the others, it had given Artemis just enough time to return to his innocent self, acting as if nothing had happened before he met the same fate as the doll, who had finally given up on its bid for freedom.

As Amy disappeared in the door, Artemis let out a large breath of air that he had been holding in that entire time. Tails shook his head in disappointment of his younger sibling because of his immature actions, but at the same time laughed because of the ironic hilarity of the tense situation. Sonic was just laughing as he had never seen such an impression of Amy so close to the real thing in his life.  
'S-she never f-finds out? O-okay?' Sonic said between breaths of air as Artemis began to join in in the laughing circle. Even the doll, although muffled, was laughing, even if it had no idea what the laughing was about as Sonic's shoe had obscured Artemis.

Amy came with a tray of drinks to find everyone now uncontrollably laughing.  
'What?' she asked, but all she got in response was a continuous fit of giggles. 'What's so funny?' Completely unaware of what had happened, Amy looked around as all three boys and whatever the doll was (_is it a boy or girl?_ Amy wondered to herself) continued to laugh. Sonic fell over, clutching his stomach. The doll, grabbing the chance, immediately leaped to the air, screaming 'I'm free!' as it floated away from the group towards the setting sun. Instant silence fell as they watched it disappear.  
'Well... that was... weird' Sonic said a moment's silence.  
'Oh, Arty, you better call mom and dad, let them know you're here,' Tails said, realising what he had not yet done. Artemis nodded and headed inside to do just that. Sonic, meanwhile, was worried about who the doll would tell the secret to, now that he had refreshed its memory.

* * *

'You can't just bang on their door, demanding for a doll!' Knuckles exclaimed after he had been told Rouge's very simple plan. His nose bleed had at last stopped and Rouge's breast container was, if highly reluctantly, carrying the used tissues. The mark Rouge had left on his chin because of his earlier suggestion to use her pocket as an improvised bin was very visible.  
'It's just asking! Jees!' At this time, darkness had now fallen, the sun completely gone. This argument was very near the house, and Knuckles was wondering whether it would wake them up.  
'Sonic and Tails are probably in bed now, do you really think they're going to be happy to see you?'  
'I don't know why everyone makes such a big deal over the night, it has plenty of advantages!' Rouge said in her typical pose that she pulled while explaining things by raising her arms and half closing her eyes.  
'For you anyway.'  
'What's that supposed to mean?!'  
'Oh nothing, Miss Jewel-obsessed Bat!'  
'Well done Knuckie, you got something right!' Rouge taunted pinching his cheek and wobbling it around in mock appreciation of his so-called 'intelligence'. Knuckles batted her hand away and pulled into a fighting stance.  
'Don't do that to me again!'  
'What, call you smart? Okay, numbskull, have it your away.' Again, Rouge knew she had hit a very tender spot on Knuckles and prepared for flight as he took a disgruntled swing for her.

* * *

Tails was in the living room, administering that day's last dose of the medicine before hitting the bunk. His throat pains were now completely gone, but he took it nonetheless. Once he did so, he went into the kitchen and replaced the small jar into its rightful place and the spoon in the sink. He then made sure to turn off all lights on the lower half of the house before laying down on the sofa and pulling the cover over him. The forecast had predicted a cold night, so he wrapped his tails around him for extra warmth in case the need aroused. Even if it didn't, it would still keep him warm and comfortable nonetheless.

As he settled down to a quiet night's rest, unbeknownst to him, someone was coming down the stairs. As the figure slowly reached the bottom, they said in a worried voice 'Tails...' At the mention of his name, Tails sat up and looked around. Although there wasn't much light in the room, just enough moonlight was shining through to let him see the figure, who turned out to be Artemis.  
'What's the matter?' Artemis approached the side of the sofa. His hands were fidgeting around a lot with each other and he held a solemn frown, accompanied by watering eyes.  
'I...' Artemis begun, but he couldn't say it. It was highly embarrassing for him, and it was only something one would only ever tell their mother. To tell it to an older sibling was normally suicide. But seeing as Artemis had no mother to turn to at the moment, he had no choice. 'I... I had a bad dream.'

Tails blinked. This was unexpected for him, as well as from Artemis. He knew that, despite Artemis was now ten years old, he was, even if it were a rarity, sometimes the four year old cub Tails had first known six years ago when he had first found out he had a brother. He wasn't used to this, and he doubted he ever could, but in the end they were biological brothers, not like the brotherly bonding him and Sonic shared (although they were very similar) and at the moment, he was in charge of looking after Artemis, he was his responsibility.  
'Well... okay... erm... so, what do you want me to do?'  
'Erm... c-can I sleep with you? Please?' Artemis' eyes shone in a puppy-dog fashion and his fingers kept fidgeting around. Tails groaned, hoping it wouldn't have come to this, but he gave in anyway.  
'Alright... erm... let's go back upstairs, it's comfier on my bed.' Truth be told, he realised how uncomfortable the sofa was actually becoming and wanted to go back to his room. He got up and made for the stairs, Artemis obediently following, the rims of his eyes continuing to water as the bad dream etched in his head continued to replay itself.

Tails climbed into his bed and moved to the edge to allow Artemis room to sleep in. It wasn't the largest space to sleep in, on the contrary there was hardly any at all, but both kits managed to safely squeeze in without falling off. Tails settled down within the covers and went to go back to sleep. _This isn't so hard I guess, so long as he's near me, he'll be okay, sorta._ As this thought finished, Tails felt Artemis grab his arm. He looked around to find Artemis holding it like a child would hold a cherished doll as a night time comfort.  
'Erm... Arty. Could ya, you know, let go please?' bet it was too light. Artemis was already fast asleep and Tails could feel his cheeks turning pink again. He would just have to deal with it for the night. Wrapping one tail around himself and the other on top of Artemis, he then nestled into a comfortable position and dozed off.

* * *

Land was finally in sight. After what seemed like hours (and judging by how much the sun had lowered and the moon risen, it had been just that amount of time) the poor doll could see land on the horizon. Excited about this foundation, it suddenly tried to go as fast as it could towards the harbour of the town the small portion of land was dominated by. Once there, a small area would need to be found to accommodate in and then find something to do. And perhaps something that could jog its memory on the new found memories. Something, anything, was all it needed to assure that its existence was not worthless.

Reaching the boarder of the harbour, it descended to ground level and looked for somewhere to hide in for the meantime. A nearby bucket held the solution and he delved into it, but not before checking what was inside. Luckily, nothing was inside so the doll settled in to its temporary home.

As soon as it settled in, it started relaying the thoughts it had had earlier.  
_'What is it grandfather? _The girl's voice said once more. _Grandfather... who's her grandfather? And what is it she's talking about? Could it be me?_ The image of the girl holding him to her chest flashed in his mind. This time, he caught a better image of her. Wavy blonde hair at shoulder length and a blue dress that matched her eyes. But that was it. Nothing else there that could lead to another memory, or find out the name of that girl. He snuggled into the barrel and fell asleep. It didn't need sleep, but it could still use it to pass the time.

* * *

Looking over the port town, lit only by moonlight and street lamps, a dark figure stood atop one of the buildings. It had been a while since he had been able to be in any action, and for once he actually hoped that Eggman would attack somewhere, or try to persuade him into another one of his hair brained schemes. Even though, now that he knew what he was doing, he would no longer let that happen, unlike the previous times.

Shadow had learned not to allow himself to be drawn in to help Eggman long ago. Now that he knew, and could remember, the doctor's full intentions, he knew when to avoid and when to act. But the emptiness of still not knowing what his true purpose was remained. After the incident six years ago, he had never even come close to uncovering his past and had eventually given up hope. So he decided to make his own purpose, instead of following one that he might not even like. His purpose now was to help defend Mobius in any way possible, even accepting Sonic's aid when offered to him. He now understood the advantages of working as a team rather than being a lone wolf and it had always proved useful. I the morning, he planned to set off to a larger city, half hoping that Eggman would coincidentally attack it when he arrived. Until then, he lay down on the rooftop and stared at the stars, thinking of the Space Colony Ark and of Maria.


	7. Haircare and cuddly toys

First of all, thank you to Midnight rebel spy, dark leader omega (yay, you returned :D) and Tailsisreal for reviewing.

Sorry if this took a bit of time, but VERY hot weather, my birthday and my last GCSE exams of the year managed to sneak their way in. And some other stuff which I can't seem to remember.

By the way, I just realised that I haven't described Arty's shoes. They're red and white (duh?) with the white as a strip around the bottom just above the sole if you get me.

Despite the Sonicverse that this should be set in (Arty originally comes from my first fanfic which was set just after Sonic X) for some reason I'm not going to include the X-Tornado. No idea why, but... there you have it.

Anyway, read, review, enjoy! Please? :)

P.S. Don't ask about the title, I couldn't think of anything else.

* * *

Chapter 7: Hair-care and cuddly toys

The port, as busy as ever, was crowded by traders, fishmongers and tourists that were awaiting a luxurious yacht ride. As the Mobians got on with their normal life, they were oblivious to the doll darting around between their legs to try and escape. Not being seen was the least of its worries as it tried to avoid tripping anyone up and causing a commotion.

Once out of the port, the streets were much more relaxed. Although many people bustled around the many seaside shops, it was surprisingly inactive. Ironically, it was precisely this inactivity that gave the doll its invisibility to everyone around. Because no one was around, no one was there to see it, allowing free movement without anyone screaming something about a flying doll.

Shadow jerked awake when a Flickie had landed on his stomach. He shooed the small blue bird away as it started to peck at his white fur. Standing up, Shadow watched it fly away into the sky. _Must of dozed off _Shadow thought to himself as he stretched his arms, legs and neck. His plan was to move to a different city, half in the hopes of seeing some activity from Eggman. He skated down the side of the building at full speed, pulling up at the last moment when he reached the bottom so he landed safely on the ground. He headed towards the road that lead to a nearby city. Having no Chaos Emerald caused travelling issues for Shadow, but he could endure the extended travel time without worrying. As he headed towards the boarder of the small town, he passed the various shops that were just outside the port so he could get one last look at the sea before setting off.

The next thing he knew, he was flat on his face. Stars appeared in his vision as he sat up and tried to figure out what had happened. He looked around to find a doll on the floor, it too just recovering from an unexpected injury. Thinking nothing of it, the ebony hedgehog stood up and prepared to carry on.

_Wait. Since when can dolls move by themselves?_ Shadow turned round again to find the doll now floating a few feet above the ground and heading in the opposite direction. Curious, Shadow followed in secret, making sure to stay out of sight should he arouse the doll. The idea of a floating doll seemed only capable to form in Eggman's bizarre mind. He couldn't see how it was a threat, but he followed it nonetheless.

Tails woke up to find himself in his bed. _How'd I get here?_ Was his first thoughts. _I thought Artemis was meant to be sleeping here._ He looked around and seen Artemis before remembering what had happened the night before. He was pleased to see that Artemis was no longer clinging to his arm but was instead sprawled with his legs over the covers, tails and left arm hanging over the side and mouth hanging open. By the looks of his damp fur and his spread out position, he must have over heated during the night and tried to make himself cooler by climbing out of the covers. It wasn't really very hot last night, so Tails was curious as to how he got in this state, but he did remember feeling Artemis tossing and turning a lot during the night. instinctively went for his bedside table for his gloves, to realise that they had been left downstairs. Instead, Artemis' light blue ones lay there in their place. Tails swung himself out of bed to find, for the first time in a week, his head wasn't spinning. He then also noted that his throat was normal and it didn't hurt at all. _Yes!_ Tails thought to himself, silently celebrating because his tonsillitis had finally disbanded from his system.

Meanwhile, Sonic was downstairs, eating his breakfast and watching the morning news, hoping that something fun would happen today. But today was the same as any other. This person saved by a miracle, that person discovering something that's probably completely useless, and so forth. Once again, Eggman had not shown up, which was actually worrying Sonic. Eggman hadn't been seen for a number of weeks, so it was anyone's guess as to what he was up to. He looked out of the window, probably thinking that in doing so, Bokkun would show up with a message from Eggman, explaining exactly what his next scheme was. Unfortunately, all it brought was a sky filled with dark grey clouds, threatening to rain at any given moment.

Then it dawned on him, and he felt like he was going to kick himself for not seeing it in the first place. What if his first suspicions were right? What if that doll was actually Eggman's, gathering information about him to use it against him? If so, then maybe this was going to be Eggman's new, secret weapon. Expose the hidden facts about him and make him a global laughing stock, so he would be too embarrassed to show his face outside while Eggman pillaged city after city, until Eggmanland stood tall in it's glory, or lack of, looking at Eggman's weird tastes.

His second concern was where Tails was. Having had no idea what had happened last night, he had come downstairs to find Tails was not on the sofa, where he had originally intended to sleep so Artemis could sleep in his room. His shoes and gloves were still in here. But as he thought these thoughts, the stairs began to creak. He looked round to see Tails, wearing no gloves or shoes. Tails said 'morning' to Sonic in a very delighted tone, before picking up his gloves and shoes and slipping them on before heading for breakfast.

'Morning,' Sonic said. 'Where were you?' Tails, who was about to pour cereal into a bowl, stopped. It hadn't occurred to him that he was going to have to answer this, so he hadn't thought up of an explanation. Even though he quickly knew a reasonable, perfectly true one, he wasn't sure if it was a good thing to say it, thinking of how Artemis would react, seeing how nervous he had been last night about telling Tails about it.

'Err...' Tails started, trying to think of what to say. 'Err...' again. Then he suddenly thought _well, it is Arty, so maybe I should tell Sonic to ask him instead._ 'You'll have to ask Arty, it's about him and I don't know whether to tell you or not in case he doesn't want me to.' Tails expected Sonic to pester him, but when he turned round to look at the hedgehog, he was nodding to say he understood and carried on with his cereal. Tails gave a sigh of relief and turned back to his cereal. 'By the way, my throat doesn't hurt anymore!' Tails excitedly informed Sonic as he made his way to the table. Sonic, who's mouth was completely full, gave him a thumbs up to show he was just as pleased as the kit. Both Mobians sat and ate their breakfast in a strange silence, as if it were not meant to be there, but instead teeming with chatter.

Next to come down was Amy from the guest room. Sonic and Tails looked up to say hi, but then something caused their words to get caught in their throat. Her quills were in every direction possible, instead of straight down where they were meant to be. She clearly knew this already and didn't need either of the boys to point it out as she looked as if steam could come out of her ears if she were any angrier.

'Don't say a word, okay?!' she almost shouts. Tails (who didn't have a mouth full of cereal) hastily blurted out 'we weren't going to say anything Amy!' while holding his hands up in defence.

'Good!' Amy stalked over to their kitchen and started to raid the cupboards.

'Amy, the bowls are -,' Sonic started, thinking that she was looking for her own breakfast to eat.

'I'm not looking for the bowls! Have you got any straighteners?' At this, Sonic and Tails looked at each other. Sonic mouthed _why?_ To him and Tails shrugged his shoulders.

'Amy, we kinda don't have anything to straighten,' Tails pointed out in a calm voice, hoping it would catch on to Amy. But instead,

'WHAT DO YA MEAN YOU HAVEN'T GOT ANYTHING TO STRAIGTHEN?!' Amy bellowed, rounding on the kit, who leaped out of his skin.

'A-Amy l-look, the longest fur I have are these!' Tails pointed out once more, tugging at his bangs. 'And Sonic's quills always stay that shape, they don't change, do they? They don't need straightened, right?' Amy looked from one to the other, trying to find something that probably would need to be straight all of the time.

'What about your tails, Tails?' Amy said, pointing at his appendages. 'The fur on those is a bit long, aren't they?' And she was right. It had never occurred to Tails how the fur on his tails even looked. He had never given personal grooming much thought, thinking it was just for those with an obsession in looking good, going to a special occasion or if it was absolutely necessary they take care of that part of the body, or the whole of it in total and he had never seen a reason for this. He looked at one of his tails to check. Although the fur was relatively straight, he found that some of the hairs had been tangled around each other. _I guess they could use a brush once in a while. _Trying to hide his embarrassment of never brushing, he said 'they don't need straightened, just brushed every... once in a while.'

'Okay,' Amy said, missing Tails' half-truth 'so where's this brush you use then? Can I at least use that?'

'Err...' Tails said, looking like he was thinking of where the hair-care product was. In reality, he was trying to think of a way out of his hole. Then suddenly, an idea struck him. He just hoped Sonic caught on. 'I don't know, I haven't seen it in a while. Do you know where it is Sonic?' Tails turned round to him. He made sure Amy couldn't see him winking to the blue hedgehog, trying to tell him to help him out.

'No, I haven't seen it for a long time bud,' Sonic said, easily keeping his cool and playing with the story. Tails was tempted to let out a sigh of relief, but decided against it.

As Amy tried to think of a comeback, Artemis came sleepily down the stairs. His fur still looked rather sodden and his eyes were half closed. He took one look around the occupants of the room and said 'was it just me... or was last night really hot?'

'Just you Arty,' Tails said bluntly before taking another mouthful of cereal. Sonic got up to put his bowl in the sink and headed towards the front door for a morning run.

'Aha!' Amy yelled, causing everyone to look up. 'Where did you last see it?!' Tails stared blankly at her in disbelief. Sonic made a more hasty retreat to the door, fearing he might be pulled into this again. Artemis, meanwhile, was plain dumbfounded. Having only just entered the conversation, he was trying to figure out what they were talking about. Leaving them to it, pretending as if he wasn't there, he sidled over to the kitchen for his own cereal to try to wake himself up.

It got up and carried on as if nothing had happened. It was completely unaware of who it had tripped over, but it wanted to get away before any other form of weapon met it. The hammer that it had now been clobbered by twice was more than enough to convince it not to get on the wrong side of people. So instead, it carried on through the empty streets of the small harbour town, trying to find where the road out of there was. It probably would be wiser to keep to the road than head in a straight line in case it got lost. Unbeknownst to the doll, Shadow was stalking it from everywhere from dark alleys to behind abandoned stalls. He watched cautiously as it glided through the streets, trying to find the exit to the town.

At last, after a full ten minutes of hunting, the doll found the road out of town and headed straight for it, Shadow quickly in tow. The doll flew low to the ground, keeping out of sight from oncoming cars and keeping to the side, unlike Shadow who was too large to keep out of sight in such an area. So instead, he just skated along behind, acting as if he were a normal traveller making his way to the next city.

Three knocks sounded on the door. Amy was looking for something to brush her quills with, while Tails was working on some plans for the Tornado now that his head no longer hurt whenever he tried to think for more than a few seconds and Artemis was sat on the floor near an open window to cool off, with both legs and tails crossed, still munching on his breakfast. All three occupants looked round at the door, expecting it to be Sonic. Tails, leaving his plans, answered, and there stood Rouge and Knuckles, both sporting bruises and an occasional cut.

'Hey, err... what happened to you two?' Tails asked, although it was more of a rhetorical question. He could guess the answer and get it right, looking at what these two were like.

'Someone decided that she wanted the Master Emerald for herself!' Knuckles exclaimed in a sort of menacing tone. It was obvious that they had been quarrelling the whole way here seeing as they still looked very hot-headed.

'Well if someone didn't hog it all of the time!' Rouge retorted, just as viciously.

'Guys, c'mon, calm down!' Tails said in a pleading tone, trying to get them to stop before it started. 'Now what is it you want?' Rouge, remembering why they were here, said 'have you seen a doll, looks just like you, only smaller and has a gem on its head?'

It started to rain. The house suddenly fell silent as the mention of the 'inanimate' object hit them. Rouge, after receiving no response, quickly put two and two together.

'You have, haven't you?' she said. Tails briefly nodded, biting his lower lip.

'What did it do to you?' Tails asked, concerned that, upon releasing it to the rest of the world, it had done much more damage than he had expected.

'Not much really, it's mainly Rouge who's trying to find it,' Knuckles said.

'So why are you following me then, if you don't want to find it?' Rouge then exclaimed.

'You were the one dragging me, I didn't want anything to do with it!'

'Fine, if you want to be a baby and go home, then go, I don't need you!' Rouge backfired, using Knuckles' own hot-headedness to keep him.

'You won't get rid of me that easy, I'm staying right here!' Knuckles shouted, fists now clenched.

'But you just-'

'Knuckles, Rouge, please stop already!' Tails pleaded. _They haven't changed a bit!_ He thought to himself. Rouge and Knuckles glared at each other, but much to Tails' delight, nothing more was said and he sighed in relief.

Rouge, after cooling down and pulling away from Knuckles' menacing gaze, said 'so when did you see it?'

'Just last night. We nearly caught it, but it got away.' Rouge let out a low groan.

'Any idea where it headed?'

'It went that way, if that's what you mean,' Tails said, pointing to the sky in the direction the doll had headed. He then lowered his voice and said 'I'm guessing it went off the island to get away from Amy.'

'Why, what did she do?' Rouge asked at the same volume.

'Clobbered it with her hammer,' Tails said, pointing out the obvious.

'My ears are burning, is someone talking about me?' Amy called from behind Tails inside the house. The trio at the door looked at each other. But luckily, Amy said 'oh never mind, they're just itchy!' and at that, Knuckles, Tails and Rouge all let out one big simultaneous sigh.

'Hey, can we come in?' Knuckles asked as the rain started to pick up. Tails stepped to one side to let them inside and closed the door, finding just how much warmth he had missed out on by letting it escape.

At last, they entered the city, buildings ranging from houses to skyscrapers. The doll headed through it, with Shadow in pursuit. It had thought nothing of Shadow's presence seeing as there was only one direction to actually go in on the road for the duration of the trip. Once there, the doll rose up towards a higher level, where a clearer view of the city could be seen. Shadow, being unable to get so high up, tried to keep his eyes on both the doll and the road at the same time. It was difficult due to the actual height of the doll, so the stuffed toy had to be kept at the very top of his peripheral vision, and the ground at the bottom. They weaved through the streets, the doll still unaware of Shadow's presence.

BANG! Something exploded nearby. Shadow stopped, looking around frantically for the source. After seeing nothing happening in the vicinity, he closed his eyes and listened carefully. _Screaming_ he thought as he could hear citizens screaming and crying. Shadow opened his eyes and looked up, to find the two-tailed doll had disappeared. _Great._ Quickly abandoning his hunt, Shadow turned to head towards the fleeting citizens to see what the commotion was.

Knuckles and Rouge came inside as Tails closed the door. The first thing Rouge noticed was the state of Amy's quills.

'What happened to you?' was the first thing she asked.

'Not a word about them, okay?' Amy bit back, still hunting for something to brush her quills with. Then it hit her. 'Hey, Rouge, you got a -?' she turned around as she said this, but when she seen Rouge holding a brush, her question was lost and replaced with a dash for the prickly tool and a 'oh, thank you Rouge!' and then sprinted upstairs to the bathroom where there was a mirror. Meanwhile, Artemis was subtly studying Rouge. He had seen her a few times before, but had never really gotten to know her and he didn't really know much about her. And he couldn't think of what to think about her. She was older, that was clear. She was a bat, again pointing out the obvious. But the way she looked, he was unsure of. Was she a thief? Or another who had an obsession about looks? _Or maybe both. Tails did say she likes to steal jewels._

'So where was it you seen it then?' Rouge asked Tails again, who had taken a seat opposite them.

'First was last week, it followed us home from the city. Then again just yesterday when it showed up on our doorstep. Why do you want to know anyway?'

'Stupid thing tried to attack us while we were fighting over the Master Emerald,' Knuckles huffed, clearly annoyed that it had tried to tip the scale on a fair fight.

'Is that all you two do? Fight over jewels?' Tails asked, wondering if these two would ever mature. Rouge made it looked like she was in deep thought for a moment before nodding. Tails just shook his head. Would they ever learn?

'While we're here and since it's raining, is it alright if we stay here for a bit Tails?' Knuckles asked. Tails took a glance at Rouge. He was fine about Knuckles staying, so long as he didn't break anything. It was Rouge's nature that was making him weary. Rouge took the note, raised her palms in the air and clearly stated 'I won't steal anything, I promise! Besides, there's probably no jewels to steal anyway.' Tails made a mental note to keep the one Chaos Emerald they had closely guarded and heavily hidden. Even with her solemn word, she would most likely break it for one of the powerful objects.

'Hey Knuckles, up for another round?' Artemis suddenly asked from the floor with one of his mischievous smirks. Him and Knuckles had found a very odd sport that involved teasing one another until one got too angry. Predictably, Artemis always won because of Knuckles' hot-headedness and low wit combined, but that just made Knuckles try even harder as he wasn't about to be beaten by someone half his age.

'You got it... twitch,' Knuckles mocked, making the first move by mocking Artemis' . Tails rolled his eyes as he could never find the point behind this weird game (_it's funny watching Knuckles lose all the time _Artemis had told him).

'I'm surprised you _don't _twitch, looking how much you sit around next to that Emerald,' Artemis stated. 'Hands up those who think he uses it to power his television?' No one seemed to be listening to this when it was only Artemis that put up his hand. Then, for the third part of his snide comment about Knuckles' lifetime job, he lowered his hand and said 'oh yeah, you can't afford one. Even if you could, you wouldn't know how to work it.' Knuckles chuckled and then said 'at least I'm old enough to have a job.' Everyone looked at him. He seemed to think this was the perfect blow as he sat with his arms crossed and a smirk across his face, reminding Rouge oddly of Shadow when he's glad with himself, or the result of something else. But everyone knew it was a pathetic attempt and he might as well give up now. Knuckles opened his eyes to look at the damage he had dealt, but instead met a bunch of confused expressions.

The door opened and a shivering, wet Sonic walked in. Artemis was tempted to say 'it's a miracle, he can swim!' but decided against it. Before Knuckles could turn around, Artemis pulled off Sonic's mocking face that the hedgehog usually uses for Eggman by pulling the bottom eyelid down and sticking his tongue out. But instead, he received a scolding.

'Arty!' Tails yelled. 'What did I tell you about doing stuff like that?!'

'But...' the little fox went to complain, but Tails' abnormally vicious expression made him back down. Instead, he rolled his bangs around his finger and muttered 'sorry'.

'So what happened Sonic?'

'Rain... got really really heavy really fast. Hey Tails, do you have a hot w-water bottle?' the shaking hedgehog asked.

'No but I can fill a bucket up with warm water if you want.' Sonic nodded at Tails' sugestion and sat down. 'Arty, can you grab Sonic some towels please?' Tails said as he went for the kitchen to do his aforementioned task. Artemis, who was hidden from Sonic's view from the table leaped up and headed for the bathroom upstairs.

Shadow rounded a corner to have to immediately retreat again as a mob of Mobians ran from the streets, screaming in fear. As they ran away, a large dome-headed robot with large cannons as arms trudged through, robot minions in his wake. Shadow smiled. What he had hoped for had actually come true. There, shadowed by the sun behind it, stood a robot that matched the heights of the surrounding business buildings and a single sphere in the center – Eggman. He tapped away at the controls, controlling the monstrosity forwards through the street, the lesser bipedal androids at the heels, firing at cars, shops and the like.

Shadow, with his immense speed, navigated his way through the fleeing anthropomorphic citizens towards the armada. When he finally cleared them, he came to the front of a line of simplistic bots, all with mounted cannons. Not immediately recognising him as a threat, Shadow swiftly burned a golden colour and sliced through a line of them straight towards the robot Eggman was piloting, not even giving the doctor enough time to realise what was going on. He raced up the leg of the android towards the cockpit, wasting no time to finish this. Then again, shouldn't he savour this fight? He hadn't seen any action in a while after all.

His thoughts were interrupted when the robots on the ground began to take flight now that they had realised his intentions. They open fired, the blizzard of bullets flying around him, striking the chassis of the larger robot. Shadow dashed this way and that, trying to avoid being shot. He jumped off when he reached the waist of Eggman's piloted android, quickly curling up into a ball and began to bounce on top of the attackers, each one falling to the ground in turn.

After the last one bit the dust, Shadow landed neatly next to Eggman's pod.

'Ahh, so you were the one attacking me then Shadow,' Eggman noted. 'I must say, it took me quite some time before I realised it was you.' In truth, he hadn't even realised he had been attacked until Shadow had landed in front of him, but playing the smart one was always his tactic. Shadow just glared at him as he slowly reached for a button that would prime him as the target.

'Don't bother Eggman,' Shadow threatened, watching the slow motion towards a button. Eggman hesitated for a moment, deciding whether he should press it or not.

But at that moment, another batch of robots had taken flight and were quickly firing upon Shadow. Quickly reacting, he spun around and began to yet again dash between the hell fire and Eggman quickly thumbed the button. Immediately, the robot's targeting systems activated and locked onto the ebony hedgehog in seconds, before the missile launchers came out of their mounts and began to fire on Shadow, who was again bouncing from one robot to another, denting and blowing up each one in turn. As soon as he finished, the missiles flew cleanly through the tubes and headed straight towards him. Landing on one knee on the ground, he looked up to see several streams of smoke rocketing towards him. Shadow closed his eyes and prepared.

BANG! Eggman watched as the missiles exploded on impact, smothering the area in thick black smoke. Eggman smiled at his success, but at the same time, he felt a sense of pity. The sense of Shadow going down so quickly was unbelievable. Then he sat up. _That's __because it is._

As he watched the rockets approach him at colossal speeds, he prepared himself for the impact. Timing needed to be perfect. Too late and the explosions could harm him. Too early and the illusion will be lost. With less than eight feet between him and the hail of projectiles, _Chaos blast!_ And he released a massive burst of energy, spreading out around him, destroying the missiles prematurely, as well as smashing a crater in the floor below him. The black smoke encased him, sealing his presence. The only problem was if Eggman decided he wasn't dead and tried to stomp through. So he quickly dashed out behind himself in case such an event happened. He then hid behind a car, to keep the illusion that he was indeed dead going.

He watched patiently as the smoke cleared. He had a second batch of rockets at the ready incase Shadow was still alive and made his move. As Eggman waited and waited, he began to wonder if the hedgehog really was dead. The smoke cleared and nothing remained but a smouldering crater. He leaned in closer to see if anything had been left behind.

_Now!_ He thought to himself, and Shadow quickly lunged from behind the car, towards the robot. Jumping up, he curled into a tight ball and executed a spin dash clean through the heart of the robot. Coming in one end, and out the other, Shadow circled round for another strike at Eggman's pod. Piercing the back of the robot, he smashed the bottom of the pod as he travelled through, launching Eggman flying outwards. The impact also shattered his protective glass and Eggman spiralled out over the city. As he clung on for dear life, he heard something thud below his feet, but took no notice.

Shadow watched as Eggman was hurled into the sky and the large Mech he had been using fell to the ground and lay lifeless. Shadow looked at the wreck for only a second before turning back to Eggman, watching him fly away.

Once he had disappeared, Shadow then remembered what his original objective. One or two looks around the area told him that the doll had escaped. _Great, now I'll need to track him down. But how? Hmm..._ He cycled through a list of people he knew, trying to think of which one could help him most in finding the doll. _Rouge_ he concluded.


	8. Eggman blackmails again

First off, thank you to Tailsisreal and midnight rebel spy (hold on, it's furryfur now?!) for reviewing once more :)

Sorry this chapter took so long to post, but my laptop charger decided it had had enough and spontaneously stopped working and took a full month to repair. I know, it sucks, but here the chapter is nonetheless! Again, sorry you had to wait so long. This is what happens when you don't back things up -.-'

One last thing, I said last chapter that the X-Tornado won't be used. Scratch that, it will. I wasn't thinking things through properly at the time. Oops. :(

Again, nothing else to say now except read, review, enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 8: Eggman blackmails... again

Sonic continued to shiver as Tails and Artemis rushed around, gathering things to keep the blue hedgehog warm. When they had finished, he was now laiden with three towels that were quickly dampening, a hot water bottle on his forehead and a bucket of warm water with his feet in it. Sonic, too busy clattering his teeth, gave the two foxes the thumbs up as a way in saying thanks. Artemis smiled delightedly at his own success while Tails made one final check-over on Sonic.  
'So what happened Sonic?' Tails asked as he sat down next to the shivering hedgehog.  
'R-rain c-came down r-really fast. S-slipped over into s-someone's p-pond,' he managed to stutter out to the gathering crowd.

Immediately, almost everyone burst out laughing. Artemis rolled around on the floor as the image of Sonic falling face first into a pond came through his mind. Tails tried biting his tongue to stop laughing, with little success as all it caused was for him to hold his mouth in pain while giggling at the same time. Knuckles wasn't making any effort to stop at all and had fallen onto the floor next to Artemis, pounding his fist on the floor. Rouge, however, was completely unaware of what was being said as she was studying a small device on her wrist.  
''S not f-funny!' Sonic stuttered as everyone continued to laugh at Sonic's rather embarrassing 'trip'.

After a minute or so of laughter and complaining, the group finally began to die down. Sonic looked around the group to realise Amy wasn't there.  
'W-where's Amy?' he asked. Rouge pointed up at the ceiling casually and stated 'brushing her quills.' Sonic made a notion that looked like he tried to say 'ah' but without any sound coming out.

* * *

'Blasted hedgehogs. If one wasn't enough, now there's two of them!' Eggman thought out loud. He had already reached the stage of needlessly ranting about his short failure in the city against Shadow. He looked over his shoulder to see the city he had tried to conquer slowly disappearing over the horizon. He was headed back towards his base, where Bocoe and Decoe would be waiting for him with the usual 'how did you lose this time, doctor?'. He had, of course, fought Shadow a few times before, but he still complained as if this battle were his first against the ebony hedgehog. 'Ow,' he groaned, caressing a large lump on his head. The impact had caused him to hit his head hard off of his control board and had left its painful mark.  
'Urhh,' came a second voice. Eggman ignored it for a few moments, but then realised it was not of his own origin, but someone else had groaned instead. Startling him, he looked around for the source.

And there it was. A small doll just simply lying on the floor of the pod. It seemed to be caressing something on it's head, but how it was doing it was what concerned Eggman more than why, seeing as it had no ligaments, bones or a nervous system to move the body parts. Eggman picked it up by the two tails and examined it curiously.  
'Hey! Put me down!' it yelled, swinging fists at the rotund doctor. Eggman raised an eyebrow as the doll continued to struggle free. He shaked it a few times and said 'stop struggling, or I'll drop you.'  
'Go ahead lardy, I can fly anyways!' the doll retorted, crossing its arms and looking rather pleased with itself.

However, Eggman wasn't listening to the information, but examining the twin appendages and the large ears. Recognising these, as well as other features, to be similar to Tails, he guessed that this did indeed belong to the fox. A plan sprouted in his mind, a plan that he knew would get him all of the chaos emeralds that his foes possessed. Smiling at his cunning scheme (which seemed more clichéd more than original) Eggman quickly stuffed the doll in a small compartment under his control panel ('hey, I'm not just any toy ya know! I do have feelings!') and made haste for his base, ignoring the throbbing pain in his head. Muffled sounds came from the compartment of Eggman's pod, while the sinister doctor sent commands ahead, telling Bocoe and Decoe to ready his recording equipment.

'Bocoe! Decoe!'  
'Yes doctor?' came an immediate response.  
'Get my recording equipment ready! I have a fox to blackmail.'

* * *

Artemis watched out of the window, as the rain continued to hammer down outside. His arm was propped on the windowsill and his head lay on his upright hand. He wasn't actually watching the rain, but instead was in his own world once again. The one where he could make anything happen at free will. Rouge continued to fiddle with a small device on her wrist, pressing various buttons. No one had given much thought as to what she was actually doing, and had asked no questions about said device. Tails had set about to cooking a hot lunch with Amy, who had returned with much straighter quills. Tails, still taking precautions, had hidden the Chaos Emerald within the fur of one of his tails, making sure it was next to a nerve cluster so that any movement from it would not be missed. He and Amy made about with a simple array of cheese on toasts for everyone. Already, most were on their plates and Tails had started to hand them out.

Sonic struggled to hold on to his as his violent shivering refrained him from fast movements. And he didn't want to let go of the warm blankets wrapped around him, but he managed to nonetheless.  
'Guys,' Artemis suddenly called out. 'Do purple things with jetpacks and red boots normally fly around here?' Still looking out the window at the object moving towards the house, the poor fox was oblivious as to what everyone else was doing. They were all getting behind some sort of cover, no matter what it was, whether it be the chairs, the counter, or anything else that's usable for protection. Partially trying to hide from the explosion that normally follows Bokkun's messages, partially to make it look as if no one was home, everyone was hidden completely out of sight, meaning not one person noticed Artemis still at the window.

Tails bit his lower lip, hoping that Bokkun would think that no one is home and head back. Three knocks on the door. Then silence. He waited a few more seconds to hear for anything. After he was happy, he let out a sigh of relief.

A creaking sound suddenly echoed throughout the house. Tails' eyes, as well as everyone else's in unison, widened as they had realised Bokkun had gotten in.  
'Hi, can I help?' Came a voice that was nothing like Bokkun's. It was Artemis'. Tails smacked his forehead as he realised he had forgotten to warn his little brother about the danger.  
'Yeah, I have a message for Tails from Eggman. Where is he?' Bokkun bluntly stated.  
'He's right...' Artemis started as he turned around to point out Tails, to realise he was hidden from view. 'Erm... Guys? Where are you all?' No answer came. No one wanted to let Bokkun know where they were. Not wanting to search through the house in case he stumbled onto something he shouldn't have seen, Artemis instead turned back to the floating robot and said 'I guess he's upstairs or something. Do you want me to deliver the message to him for ya?' Bokkun sighed, quickly realising that no one wanted to see him. He couldn't blame them since every message he had delivered so far also held a nasty surprise at the end for the receiver. Still, it downhearted him whenever it happened as it made him feel unwanted.  
'Fine,' Bokkun sighed as he pulled out the yellow television screen and handed it over to the audience of one.

As Artemis took hold of it, the message started to play. Eggman's face sneered at him on screen, causing Artemis to jump slightly, but kept focused on the message. Sonic, trying to keep out of the line of Bokkun's sight, peeped up from his hiding place to watch the message.  
'Dear Tails!' Eggman started off with his sneer spread wide below his foot-long moustache. 'I was wondering if you would like your doll back,' the doctor said, moving to one side to show the doll, sitting on a chair, looking around the area as if he was a risk assessor. 'Well, you can have him! At a... reasonable price.' Eggman then taunted by rubbing his finger and thumb together. Everyone in the room rolled their eyes (including Bokkun), whether it was visible to others or not, knowing already what the vile doctor had in mind for his ransom. 'All of your chaos emeralds!'

While Eggman talked, the doll behind him reached over to something off-screen and duly returned with a sheet of paper and a thick black pen and began to scribble something down. 'If you do not give them to me, then I'll take your little dolly apart, or enslave him, or...' Eggman fell silent for a few moments while he thought over what else he could do with the stuffed animal. 'Well, do something useful with him.' As Eggman finished his sentence, the doll turned its sheet of paper over to reveal the note to the camera, which read 'Dear Sonic. Come rescue me, or the fat one finds out your secret. Hope to see you soon.' As if to mock the hedgehog further, it had even drew a smiley face next to the message. Sonic narrowed his eyes, thinking of what he could and would do to the doll given the chance. 'I hope you make the right decision Tails,' Eggman continued. 'If you want the doll back, meet me at the Northern edge of Angel Island.' And with that sign-off, the screen went blank.  
'Um... Do you want this back?' Artemis asked Bokkun once the message had ended.  
'Hey, are you insane?! Of course not!' Bokkun exclaimed rashly, waving his arms in front of him in defence. He couldn't remember if he had set it to detonate or not. But-  
'Good!' Artemis exclaimed and threw the portable system against the wall before stomping on the contents, shattering the glass and nearly slicing his foot open. By pure luck, he missed every shard of glass and his foot remained intact.

When everyone could hear the commotion, they popped up like meerkats from their various hiding places to watch the mad, unexplainable behaviour. When the small kit finished off with one final stamp on the frame, breathing heavily, it was then that Tails made a notion towards him. He had a feeling he knew why Artemis was acting in this fashion, but he needed to before before doing anything. For the third time in less than twenty-four hours, he needed to play the role of the big brother. _Fingers crossed this time, it looks a bit less embarrassing _Tails thought to himself as he approached his sibling.  
'Arty... you okay?' As if in answer, the white-tipped ears lowered slightly and the fox sniffed, wiping a light blue glove across his nose as everyone else returned to their seats and pretended nothing was happening, while Bokkun headed back towards Eggman's base, hoping he wasn't next on the list.  
'It's okay, just let it go. It was years ago, remember? Just let it go.' Tails patted Artemis gently on the back as well as scratching his soft spot, in an attempt to calm him down. His fur still felt a bit damp from his sweating earlier. Artemis nodded and tried to perk up as everyone else delved in to their lunch and both foxes took their respective seats to start their own. Almost immediately, it seemed as if Bokkun had never arrived and Artemis had never threw a tantrum. 'I think I know why I was sweating last night now. _Him,_' Artemis muttered to Tails on their way back in a rather bitter tone.

After a few moments of quiet eating, Sonic said 'so how are we getting the doll back?'  
'WHAT?!' was the exasperated response from everyone in the room, all in unison.  
'Have you lost it Sonic?!' Knuckles exclaimed, setting his plate down. 'I may be gullible,' he said, gritting his teeth as he remembered the various times Eggman had deceived him, 'but even I know that that doll deserves to be with Eggman. At least then it's not annoying us.'  
'Hey, I've got my reason Knucklehead! So what's the plan?'  
'There isn't one Sonic,' Tails said sternly. 'Maybe Knuckles is right. That thing's not exactly 'innocent'. You should know that, you spilled tomato soup over it after... well, you know. Still...' Despite his explanation and the situation at hand, Tails knew for a fact that he wouldn't be able to live well knowing he had almost killed one friend and had handed over another living (if it could be called that) being to Eggman. It was a very push-and-pull situation for the fox. Having no idea what decision to stick with, he decided to play the sheep and follow the majority. Or whichever decision conquered the other at the least.  
'But it hasn't done anything wrong. Okay, so it's been a bit on the annoying side, but don't you think it might be for attention? Maybe he just wants a friend. If we save him, maybe he'll stop. So what do ya say?' Sonic said rather enthusiastically to the group at large. That all looked at each other as if having a silent discussion as to what they should do. In truth, no one could think of anything to say to this because, however insane it sounded, their was reason behind it.

After a few more moments of silence, Sonic said 'alright, if it turns out it doesn't want friends, we throw him into something he can never get out of. Deal?' Tails, thinking he would be regretting his next action soon, bit his lower lip and nodded in agreement, as did everyone else. 'Alright, we need a plan. Any ideas?' Had anyone else seen the message, they would realise that the blackmailing had done its work.  
'Well,' Rouge started. 'First, we wait for Shadow.' As she said this, she flashed the small device on her wrist. It looked just the same as the small communicators Tails had constructed for their outer-space adventure. Rouge and Shadow had managed to 'acquire' two of them and used them to contact each other when need be. They would rather use these ones than the ones Eggman had supplied to them on their adventure because they were much more compact.  
'Great, well call him,' Sonic asked smiling that there would be an extra hand to help.  
'Already have,' Rouge answered with her cheeky smile.

* * *

Eggman, sat at his controls, plotted the route he would be taking to the meeting point. It was quite straight forward – literally. Since there was nothing separating him from the Island (except from the sea, but seeing as he was flying, it wasn't really a problem) plotting wasn't really necessary. At the same time though, he was also making preparations by calling out certain types of robots from their resting places to lie in wait in case something were to go wrong.

Sat on the same stool that was used for the short double blackmail message, the doll sat staring at Eggman, who was hammering away at the controls laid out in front of him reading off the messages that came up on the large screen planted into the wall. The moustache and bald head seemed familiar to the doll. Where he had seen it before however, was anyone's guess.

A quick 'psst' from behind suddenly startled it, and spinning around on its seat, the doll found itself face-to-face with Bocoe an Decoe, bent low to avoid Eggman. 'We seen the message you gave to Sonic' Decoe started with a whisper. 'We were wondering what the secret was. We won't tell Eggman unless you want us to.' In response, all the androids had received was the doll tilting its head to one side and saying 'and I would tell you... why?'  
'Because we want to know!' Bocoe asked, clenching his fists. 'And if you don't tell us, we'll beat it out of you!' he then added.  
'Right... and you think I would feel it?' it then asked. In truth, yes, the doll would actually feel the pain, but they didn't know that. To them, it was just a talking, floating, annoying doll.  
'Well... yes. Punching things does normally hurt them.'  
'And if you punched a steel wall, would it feel it?'  
'Erm...' Bocoe started, looking to his partner for help. Decoe, having no idea what to say either, merely shrugged his shoulders. Bocoe looked back at the doll and said 'erm... yes. I guess so.'  
'Prove it,' the doll said, as a plan quickly came to be. It wasn't an escape plan, just an amusement one, but a plan nonetheless. 'Punch the wall. If it gets hurt, then that means I will get hurt and then it'll mean I will give you the secret. Simple.'

For a brief moment, it looked as though the sly trick hadn't worked as both robots looked at each other. They knew full well that Eggman had gone a little over the top with their designs by giving them pain receptors, partly to keep them disciplined if Eggman ever felt that they were slacking on the job. Eventually coming to a decision about their soon-to-be regrettable actions, they walked, in unison, to the nearest wall, raised their fists high and struck with as much force as the could against the steel plating. Metal clanged on metal and the sounds echoed throughout the control room as one loud BANG!

If Bocoe and Decoe had teeth, they would be bitten together so hard, the roots would pushing into their skulls (if, of course, they had skulls). 'Yiaow!' both androids screamed in unison, clutching their hand with the other, eyes shut tight. The doll rolled around, laughing uncontrollably as Eggman turned abruptly to see the commotion.  
'What on Mobius are you two up to?!' He shouted, advancing towards the small possé.  
'We were... trying to get some information on what Tails has been doing doctor,' Bocoe said, quickly thinking of a reasonable explanation that didn't involve any secrets.  
'And why exactly?'  
'W-we thought that he, or it, or whatever, had some information on what new things Tais had built. You know, so we can prepare.' Eggman didn't normally hear things like this from the bots as it was normally his decision to interrogate and the would then carry it out. _Then again, I guess it does make sense...  
_'Alright, you're let off this time, but next time, wait until I tell you to before interrogating our prisoners! Got it?'  
'Yes sir!' the bots chimed in at precision timing and setting off a salute, ignoring their now dented hands. The easy thing about being robotic is you could shut off certain systems if need be, such as the receptors. Shame for them that they hadn't thought of it before they punched the wall. 'Now get things prepared for our little trip to the floating island.' Eggman turned his back on the bots and headed back to the control panel. Once they could not be seen or heard, Bocoe and Decoe turned on the doll and muttered 'make us do something stupid again and we'll pound the stuffing out of you!' while shaking their fists.

* * *

'Alright, I got it, I'll meet you there soon,' Shadow spoke into the intercom. He had just been told by Rouge to meet at the northern end of Angel Island, where he would helping with a mission. The objective of said mission Rouge had failed to mention. The reason for this was, unbeknownst to the ebony hedgehog, that it would have sounded stupid from Rouge's point of view. Telling a high-speeding, power-filled hedgehog with a 'take no prisoners' attitude that he needed to help them rescue a doll wasn't the best idea in the world until they were already on the scene.

The secret objective wasn't what was bothering Shadow, it was getting to the island that was the problem. He had not the first clue as to where the services to the island were in this city and there was no way in flying there seeing as his hover boots only lifted him a few inches off the ground. Shadow racked his brains for some form of idea. He remembered once flying one of Eggman's machines on their outer-space adventure, but the control scheme would almost certainly differ from that of a standard aircraft. _C'mon Shadow, think! Alright... I don't have any chaos emeralds, so chaos control is out. I don't know where the services are to Angel Island, if there are any. _Shadow sighed as his only option came to mind. _I guess flying there is the only way._

* * *

'He said he'll meet us there, he didn't say how long he'll be though,' Rouge said in a care-free tone.  
'Alright, so here's the plan,' Sonic announced to the team. While they had been waiting for Shadow's response, he had been quickly formulating a plan, using everyone's best skills. 'Alright, good. Amy, Artemis, when we get there, hide out of site and get ready to distract Eggman while I distract his robots. Tails, you'll fly Shadow and Rouge over to wherever the doll's being kept. Rouge, you and Shadow will then drop down, free the doll and then get out of there as fast as you can. Then, we run away. Simple, right?'  
'Sonic, how many times have you used that tactic?' Artemis asked lazily, who was currently sitting on the floor with his legs crossed and holding on to his shoes.  
'Erm... Come to think of it... Quite a lot.'  
'And how many times has it worked?' Artemis continued to pester. Sonic, realising their could be a major flaw in his clichéd plan, had never given much thought to how many times it worked. Lucky for him, it was Tails who answered.  
'Trust me Arty, you'll be surprised at how many times Eggman falls for the same trick. Gets a bit boring after a while really.'  
'Oh... okay,' was all Artemis could think of in response. 'So... when are we going?'  
'Soon as we can, right Sonic?' Knuckles exclaimed, who's question was answered by the cobalt hedgehog with a brief nod.

* * *

'Cage.'  
'Check.'  
'Doll.'  
'Check.'  
'Backup.'  
'Check.' Bocoe and Decoe were going through the list of what was needed. Decoe was reading them off the list, while Bocoe accounted the item. Eggman strode in to the room, examining all of what was in the loading bay. Surprisingly, the doll sat quite still and quiet in its seat once more, watching patiently as everything was loaded. _Grandpa,_ echoed the voice once more. It had been bugging the doll that entire day now, the repetition of the sweet voice constantly echoing throughout. Frankly though, recent events stopped it from delving into the quizzical voice.  
'Is my Eggpod repaired yet?' Eggman asked the two assistants as they finished off the list.  
'Almost doctor. The defence systems still aren't operational, but everything else works fine,' Decoe said as he walked to the Eggpod's side and patted it.  
'Hmm, it'll have to do,' Eggman grumbled, as he climbed in to the floating wheelchair of a thousand uses.

As he did so, Bokkun floated into the room and announced 'they got the message doctor! One of them didn't like it too much though.'  
'What do you mean?' Eggman asked as the systems kicked into life and the Pod rose above the ground.  
'Well, he kinda threw the screen against the wall and started smashing it.' _Perfect!_ Eggman thought to himself, thinking it was Tails he had upset. _With the fox acting like that, he'll be sure to come for the toy!_ 'Good job Bokkun! Maybe I'll rethink about scrapping you after all!'  
'Alright! You won't regret it doctor, I swear! Is there anything else you want me to do?'  
'Hmm... Come with us. Your televisions might help us somehow. Decoe, activate the cargo hatch!' As requested, Decoe pushed a button on the wall, and a large hatch opened up, revealing a beach. Eggman had taken to a similar base to the first one he had had on Earth due to its defensive opportunities. All of the robots kicked into life, as well as the floating cage that withheld the doll and all of the forces, including Eggman, Decoe, Bocoe and Bokkun, moved out for Angel Island.


	9. Chaos Theory

Tailsisreal, Furryfur, thank you once again for reviewing :)

Sorry this chapter took a little longer than expected, but my laptop went bust a SECOND time (although I did manage to backup my files this time round) and I rarely got any time on the home computer to write for long periods of time (well, until school started anyway, much to my own annoyance).

I wonder if anyone will notice about something to do with the Tails Doll? (I'll say it in the last chapter if no one finds it, don't worry :P)

Erm... that's it really. Read, review and most importantly, enjoy! (Well, you need to read it to enjoy it and I would much prefer a review or two :P You get the idea though, right?).

* * *

Chapter 9: Chaos Theory

_I have a bad feeling about this_ Shadow thought to himself as the old rented biplane's engines kicked rather loudly into life. At the airport of the city, he had found out the direction of Angel Island, and had decided to rent out the cheapest plane he could find. He didn't ask for a lesson in flying, deciding that a crash course would be much quicker. As he had predicted, the control scheme differed greatly from Eggman's and he only understood one dial of the many that were littered on the dashboar

d: the miles per hour. On top of that, he only understood three buttons: ignition, landing gear and ejection. He hoped he only needed to use two of them. He knew, however, that pulling back on the joystick pulled him upwards, pushing it forward pushed him down and moving it to either side would make him barrel roll. The pedals he rested his feet on would have to be figured out in flight. They seemed important.

The cockpit was windowless, save only for one sheet of glass in front of him to protect him from the majority of the wind. Ahead of this, the dual-bladed engine whirled rapidly, gaining energy and began to slowly accelerate the plane towards the other end of the runway. Gaining speed as it moved down towards the end of the strip, Shadow began to get cold feet about this. He doubted that this was a good idea, flying without a licence, or any experience of being in the skies whatsoever for that matter. As he watched the speed dial ascend, he guessed the speed he would need to pull up at, hoping he was right as he pulled back on the joystick. _When this is over, I'm getting flying lessons from Tails!_ He thought to himself. As he pulled the stick towards him, the plane lifted slightly, before coming back down and bumped hard on the ground. Shadow was forced forward, nearly hammering his head on the dashboard. _Whoever invented seatbelts, I salute you_ the ebony hedgehog thought as he tried to lighten the intense mood, checking the frail strap was still in place. He let the plane gather some more speed before attempting to take off a second time.

His patience was rewarded as the battered biplane lifted from the ground towards the skies and Shadow began his ascent over the city. He tried to keep the old plane level as it swerved from side to side uncontrollably above the rooftops of the city. He looked around the many dials, hoping one held some form of answer. One dial had a small, dual-sided needle with two lines going through the center. As the plane rocked side to side, so did the needle in unison. It took him seconds to realise that this was his stabilisation dial. _Alright, so if I get that level, then I'll be flying in a straight line. _Carefully moving the joystick left and right, Shadow tried to control the plane until the needle finally settled between the lines. Wasting no time on celebrating, he checked the city, to find himself already at the border and flying above the same motorway he had used to arrive there, which stretched out in a straight line, in the same direction he was headed. Now for the mysterious peddles. He pushed down on the right one and waited for something to happen. And waited. And waited. He watched as a cloud slowly floated to the left by the horizon. He looked down again, curious if anything was happening at all. While looking over the edge at the motorway, he pushed the pedal again. The effect wasn't good, but noticeable as he realised that the plane was now drifting to the right. He pushed the other pedal down and began to drift to the left. Finding this feature not very effective, he made a mental note not to use it once he was in line with Angel Island. Seeing as he already was, he layed off of the pedals and just let the plane guide itself forwards, keeping in check every so often that he wasn't steadily going down after finding another dial that told him what angle he was at, as well as following the motorway to the island.

He looked up to see the weather, knowing that it would affect him in some way. The recent storm's edge loomed above, severing the center of the skyline, the orange glow of the sun sharply turning into a dark grey. Still, it was heading away from him, so that wouldn't cause any problem at all.

* * *

_I have a bad feeling about this_ Tails thought to himself sheepishly as the X-Tornado's engines kicked into life. Everyone had managed to clamber in or on the craft. Tails sat in the pilot's seat, Artemis behind him, Amy and Rouge were in the rear seating and Sonic and Knuckles perched rather confidently on the wings. Tails checked the many systems on his display to make sure everything worked fine before beginning to slowly accelerate across the runway he had built into the mountain wall.

'Remind me again why we're doing this Sonic?!' Knuckles shouted over the roar of the engines as he crouched down and held on to the wing, lest he wanted to prematurely plummet to the ground.  
'We're saving the innocent, remember?!' Sonic shot back, adopting the same position.  
'He's not what I call 'innocent'! By the way, you never said what our roles are!' It was now becoming increasingly difficult to shout over the roar of the massive engines of the X-Tornado, but their voices were still audible, if barely.  
'WE'RE GOING TO TAKE OUT THE ROBOTS!' Sonic bellowed at the top of his lungs.  
'WHAT?!  
'I SAID, WE'RE GOING TO TAKE OUT THE ROBOTS!'  
'WHAT?! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!'  
'I SAID – OH, FORGET IT! I'LL TELL YOU WHEN WE GET THERE!'  
'NO, TELL ME NOW!' _Oh, come on!_ Sonic angrily thought to himself._ He could hear me when I said to forget it, but not when I said what we're doing?!_

'This better be worth it,' Artemis muttered to himself as the group headed towards the northern end. Ending up in a fight with Eggman was one thing, but being used as a distraction was what annoyed him most. He checked his harness to make sure it was clipped in properly. He wasn't afraid of Tails crashing. On the contrary, he knew full well that Tails was an expert pilot. It was the robots that they would be facing that made him concerned about all of this. Being shot at wasn't really the most comfortable experience in the world. It had never happened to him, but he hadn't intended on ever experiencing it himself. He would much rather be the one watching from the sidelines where the fire wasn't directed at him. But that direction of fire also being at Tails and his other friends made him just as uneasy.

_This isn't really my best choice in life. That little doll is gonna get it when we save it._ Sonic was silently ranting to himself as he realised how meeting a strange, unknown doll that held no significance to his life in the streets was now causing him to go to war, once again, with Eggman to stop it from revealing the many secrets to his not-so-perfect past. Information leaked like that would diminish him in moments. He knew Tails had heard and would hold his tongue to his dying breath, but this doll was nothing like the friend it seemed to be based on.

* * *

_I have a bad feeling about this_ Eggman thought to himself as he and the armada that flanked him on either side advanced towards the floating island. Bocoe and Decoe sat on either side of him in the now cramped pod, futilely repairing their dented hands. As they did so, they shot dark glares at the circular cage in tow which held the mischievous doll, the one they held responsible for their damage. Luckily, seeing as the duo normally maintained the repair units when they were not needed elsewhere, they could receive repairs free of charge and without hassle. This was the exception however, as there was indeed much hassle and it came at a D.I.Y. service as well.

The small band of machines and the like floated towards the Island that now lay before them. Eggman checked his compass to make sure they were on the right side of the island as turning up on the south side instead of the north isn't what he called 'helpful' for the situation. He looked round at the cage that held the doll. He had no idea how much trouble this doll had caused in such a short space of time, leaving him oblivious to how useful it could be. All he assumed was that it seemed to be a treasure of sorts to Tails, looking at the resemblance between them. He was using this assumption to try to obtain another emerald, hoping it meant enough to the fox that he would sacrifice such a thing for it. He hadn't thought of the fact that maybe, they weren't related, that they might just coincidentally look similar. This hadn't occurred to either of his three assistants either, but since two were already angry at the doll, they would be thinking of brutally harming it rather than who owned it.

At last, they reached the northern end, Bocoe's and Decoe's hands almost reshaped properly. On cue, the minions surrounding the rotund doctor spread out around the area, hiding themselves in various places, behind rocks, in trees and the like. Eggman parked himself next to the edge of the island. Doing so ensured him that Sonic wouldn't try to attack him as, if he did so, he would fall several hundred feet into the open seas, not Sonic's choice of destination in the slightest. Some of the streamlined robots that Eggman had used to pursue Sonic the week before were below him to chase the hedgehog away if he struck a strand of luck in hitting the doctor.

* * *

The plane continued to sway from one side to the other as Shadow still tried to gain control. The joystick moved from left to right in his hands, trying to steady, but he always seemed to over-do it and ended up swaying too far, forcing him the other way. And this process continued to repeat. If someone were watching him now, they would most definitely think he was having some sort of engine failure. As long as that doesn't really happen, everything would be relatively fine until he -

_Until I need to land!_ Shadow shouted in his mind. Uncharacteristically of himself, the ebony hedgehog bit his lower lip as he quickly became worried about his own demise. He hadn't thought about the landing part and as the Island came into view at a surprisingly fast speed on the horizon, his heart began to hammer as he tried to think of how it would land.

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and tried to think clearly on the situation at hand. _Alright... I took off by coming off of the ground at a slight angle. So, if I do the opposite and land at that same angle on a long enough stretch of land, that should be me safely landing._ He doubted he could do it however as things never were as easy as they seemed, even for the Ultimate Lifeform. Those flying lessons were to be top priority after this increasingly eventful dilemma.

* * *

Eggman could now hear the low rumble of what was undoubtedly the X-Tornado's engines roaring. Smiling to himself that they had indeed come to the 'beloved' doll's aid and his plan had so far succeeded, Eggman was already thinking of the devastation his latest mechanical behemoth would do once an emerald was in place. Despite his latest creation relying entirely on a chaos emerald's energy being one major flaw, he was sure that it would defeat Sonic and the rest of his little 'club'. His attack on the city earlier that same day was just to test that the design worked. The android he had used was not the final design, but just a model. He had figured that making it seem like the final would throw Sonic off into thinking that he would later come up with a completely different design. Shadow had ruined those plans, much to the doctor's demise. Eggman kicked back by resting his feet on top of the small windscreen in front of him and awaited his foe's arrival.

* * *

As a good landing point came into view a hundred feet from the meeting point. Tails switched the plane to a newly added V.T.O.L. mode where the engines would swivel round to point downwards after slowing down enough. This allowed him to land virtually anywhere without the need of long strips of land. It had taken him a few days to master the skill as, even for an ace pilot such as himself, it was still quite challenging to control.

As he touched down in a small clearing in the middle of the forest, he quickly switched to the X-Cyclone mode so the turbines wouldn't be pushing on the ground without anywhere for the energy to go to and cause them to be blown to smithereens without Eggman's help. But just as they touched, an announcement from the pilot's little sibling was both startling and irritating.

'Umm... Tails?' At the mention of his name, Tails swivelled round in his seat. All he could see was the white tipped ears, so he pushed himself up from his seat to look at Artemis full in the eyes. An azure glove was pulling at his bangs and his legs were tightly squeezed together as if something was causing him distress. Which it was. 'I guess this is a bad time to need the bathroom,' he said as his cheeks began to flare a rose red and turning rather vexed at his predicament. Tails sat back down and rolled his eyes before resting his had between his hands as he thought of how to deal with the hapless fox. He then remembered where he had parked, turned back round and said 'alright, use a bush for now, but hurry.' At that, the canopy opened up and, before Tails could unstrap himself, Artemis had already dashed to the edge of the clearing and behind a bush, looking highly embarrassed. He headed a bit deeper in than the edge of the clearing, in the hopes no one would see him.

'Hey, where's he off to?' Sonic asked Tails as the hedgehog hopped down from his perch. Tails shifted position slightly, scared that he would embarrass his younger sibling. The body language gave Sonic the answer however, and, after briefly nodding his head, he left it at that and decided no one else needed to know as they too joined the duo.

Tails said he would probably be better off taking to the skies in the X-Tornado, where he would be much more useful and clambered back into the cockpit whilst everyone else headed towards the meeting point, now joined by Artemis.

* * *

'Ahh, you're finally here!' Eggman announced a minute later. Eggman sat forward as he watched Sonic, Knuckles, Amy and Artemis (whom Eggman mistook to be Tails) approach him at the Island's edge. Unbeknownst to the doctor, Rouge and Tails were still at the X-Tornado, where Tails could do a fly-by and Rouge jump onto the cage. Their on-the-spot plan was to wait for some sort of commotion to start up before acting to save the doll. Not many seemed very enthusiastic about the rescue attempt however, as not one (except Sonic) seen any reason to rescue the hapless stuffed animal.

Still, the blue, pink and yellow trio advanced towards Eggman and his own robotic trio that continued to float at the edge of the island.  
'Have you got all your emeralds then Sonic?' Eggman called, smiling as his plan was working. Sonic knew full well that the only emerald they had was needed for the X-Tornado – which he had only just realised. The emerald was still quite happily sitting in the fighter, which was wearing to take off and give him aid. He thought over the situation for a few moments before deciding on what to do.  
'Umm... We don't have any,' he announced rather bluntly. Eggman leaned forward in his Eggpod and said, just as bluntly 'what?'  
'We don't have any, we were just hoping we could... you know. Take the doll back by force?' he finished with a devilish grin.

_Oh,_ Eggman thought as he suddenly realised what was about to happen. He growled at the sudden treachery as Sonic dashed forward straight towards him. 'FIRE!' the doctor screamed and various types of robots appeared from their hiding places and began to fire at Sonic, ripping up the ground infront and behind him as he raced towards Eggman and his protectors.

'Okay, are you ready Rouge?' Tails called as he heard a commotion being kicked up. Rouge nodded briefly, now perched on the wing herself, as the X-Tornado ascended it's vertical take-off. The engines swivelled backwards to their original position and the fighter lurched forward, causing Tails to bump his head on the headrest of his seat. The fighter stormed in the direction of the commotion, which didn't take too long considering the short distance. In seconds, Tails was already flying above the battlefield. He watched as Sonic bounced from one robot to another, Knuckles stood his ground whilst encircled and Amy and Artemis went back to back, Amy raising her Pico Pico Hammer and Artemis feebly raising his fists. His whole body shook as Eggman's footsoldiers advanced towards him.

* * *

_There they are! _Shadow told himself as he approached from the Eastern side. The ebony hedgehog bit down hard on his teeth as he hastily looked around for a landing point. A strip of flat grass to land on, a relatively flat meadow – anything that was long and flat. Unfortunately for him, his luck ran out here as there was nowhere in the immediate area to land on. He looked around frantically. There was no use on trying to land on any stretch of land that he could see, the plane would either be torn apart by the terrain with him in it, or collide into one of the many trees covering Angel Island. His best, and probably only, bet was to jump.

He looked down at the island's edge to see how close he was. He then stood up in his seat, bent over to keep a hold of the joystick as he readied himself to leap down. He placed his left foot on the edge of the open cockpit, putting most of his weight on it, but still holding onto the joystick to keep the plane as steady as he could.

BOOM! Without noticing it had been coming right towards him, the X-Tornado blasted past him. The ear-shattering sound caused him to leap from his skin, losing his balance and letting go of the joystick to hold on to the edge, one hand on either side of his foot. In response to the sudden lack of control, the plane went into a dive at an angle, heading straight for the unsuspecting Doctor Eggman.

Caring less about the doctor and more about himself, Shaodw leaped for the Island, spreading out his body to slow his descent as much as he could, allowing him to guide his way towards land.

Meanwhile, Eggman watched as the X-Tornado shot past him like a ridiculously oversized bullet._ If Tails is flying,_ he pondered, _then who..._ As he was about to turn his attention to his opponents on the ground, he noticed the biplane on a collission course with himself. Yelping, he quickly steered the Eggpod away from the plane's direction of travel, narrowly escaping a very likely death as the wing scraped the paintwork. The plane tumbled effortlessly, being ripped apart by the edge of the island as it collided.

Amy came toppling down on an android, hammering it into the ground asif it were a nail. She quickly leaped onto another which tried to attack Artemis, who had had some trouble with a particularly tough one. Artemis had taken to the sky and had started throwing variously sized rocks at his opponent, in an attempt to at least keep them at bay from lunging for him. Some were more stubborn than others, it seemed. Odd, since they all had the same programming. As Amy pounded on the robot, two more shot out from nowhere, much more agile than their previous opponents. One grabbed Artemis by his feet, while the other pinned Amy to the ground, rendering her arms next to useless as she lay on her stomach. She struggled hard as she tried to hit the robot over her shoulder, with little success. Artemis was also wriggling around, but the assassin-like androids held firm. He tried twisting round and punching the robot square in the face. All he got was a throbbing pain as he gasped and fell to the floor, clutching his hand, refusing to let out so much as a simper. He had been hazardous enough these past few days to everyone around him, he didn't want to seem even weaker. Amy wasn't as discrete as she yelled out to Sonic for help.

A rush of wind, a _zip _and_ clunk_ and the deathgrip was suddenly released, as was the same with Artemis. The ninja-like bots fell to the ground in a heap of scrap metal and the saviour stopped dead in his tracks in the middle of the duo.

'Oh Sonic, I knew you'd come!' Amy yelled, leaping to her feet and clinging to her saviour hedgehog. Artemis climbed to his feet, seen the situation and smirked. Unbenknownst to Amy, Sonic was elsewhere, dealing with various kinds of robots, with the aid of Knuckles. The pile resembling their whereabouts was rapidly piling up as more of Eggman's footsoldiers were thrown from the ranks.  
'What the?' Said a deep voice, very unlike Sonic's. Amy opened her eyes, looked up to the male hedgehog's face. Ruby eyes looked back at her in confusion and a hint of petulance. Then again, Shadow's scowl never told you much, so it might just be an illusion. Amy withdrew sheepishly, letting out an inaudible apology and rotating her ankle. _Why do I keep doing that?!_

Ignoring the rather embarrassing moment, he simply asked 'what's the plan?' Amy looked up, thinking the question over for a second, before remembering the other hedgehog's part.  
'Oh yeah, you were supposed to help Rouge break open that cage up there,' she answered, pointing at the floating prison behind Eggman, where Rouge was already working at the lock, Eggman oblivious to what was going on.  
'So I just need to get whatever is in that cage under Eggman's nose then?' he asked himself as he started to prepare a battle plan to get there. He looked around at the terrain, noticing a small cliff to the left where he could make an easy leap from.

'That shouldn't be too hard,' Artemis unexpectedly interjected just as Shadow was about to enter a state of deep thought. Both hedgehog's looked towards him, waiting for the full explanation. 'Have you seen the size of his nose recently? You could steal his whole ship from under it and he wouldn't notice.' Shadow looked at him questioningly, wondering what on Mobius he was ranting on about. Not being one for jokes, he didn't recognise it as what it was. Amy, however, shook her head and smacked her forehead, but let out a small giggle as the joke seeped in. Shadow, ignoring the comment as well as he had Amy's clinging to him, as everything else that seemed to intervene with his actions, then dashed off to his destination without another word, leaving Artemis and Amy to finish their work. Which would be to distract Eggman, giving Shadow a chance to make his way unhindered.

Eggman watched the now burning inferno that remained on the island, and the other half that tumbled to the deep oceans below. It took him mere seconds to realise who had caused the 'attack' as he seen Shadow land rather cat-like on the ground below._ Where did he – ah, yes,_ Eggman thought, quickly remembering earlier's actions. No doubt he had either been called here, or tailed the notorious doctor to this meeting spot. Eggman began to think things through, trying to devise a new plan of action. He knew he was outnumbered and outgunned; they had a lightning-fast speedster, the Ultimate Lifeform, the most aggressive woman he had ever seen, a thief and the only mechanic who had ever matched him. It was here and now that he needed to even the odds. Perhaps his smaller model could do the trick? But then again, perhaps it wasn't ready against the firepower and would turn into a burning heap faster than the plane that had nearly tore him apart. The armour plating was not yet complete, the testing hadn't even begun and he hadn't even bothered to bring it with him. He had only actually expected there to be Sonic and Tails. To him, it would have made sense to have sent a minion to their house to find out who was there, wich would have allowed him to prepare more thoroughly. _But I did! Argh, how could I be so foolish! I sent Bokkun to deliver the message, did I not?!  
_'Bokkun!' Eggman shouted, rounding on the small messenger.  
'Y-yes doctor?' Bokkun asked with a shaky voice, afraid his master was about to send him to war.  
'Who was in the house when you delivered the message?'  
'Umm... Sonic... Tails... Amy... Knuckles..some little fox kid... and Ro-'

'Hey! Eggface!' shouted a new voice to the doctor, which was followed by a clunk on the front of the pod he and his three robots sat in, distracting him from Bokkun's list of people. He looked down to see who had started throwing volatile objects at him; the culprit being the newest addition to Sonic's friend's list, as far as Eggman was concerned. All he knew was that he had not seen this new foe before. It was, of course, Artemis, whom he had previously assumed to be Tails. He pointed a single finger at the fox, who stood proudly on the spot, surrounded by crushed robots who had met Amy's wrath (she was working on the escapees), and sneered 'Who are you?'

Artemis glared. And glared. And glared some more. Then his mouth fell open, as the information finally got through to him and he became incredulous at what he had just heard, while Amy joined his side. This was the man that had kidnapped him six years ago, which had in the end resulted in the doctor's base being blown sky-high. This was the man that had been terrorising his big brother and friends for years. This was the man that has continuously threatened to take over Mobius. And not only had he forgotten what he did to Artemis, but he had forgotten the small kit entirely, which Artemis found insulting. Just a moment's concideration was all he gave for his next actions.  
'Amy,' he said calmly. 'Can I borrow your hammer please?'  
'Umm... sure.' Confused, Amy handed over the weapon and Artemis took it in the azure gloves. It was heavier than he had expected, so much so that his stance faultered slightly as he beared the weight. Twisting his tails, who took flight, anger starting to show on his face. Amy watched with a rather blank expression – and then gasped as she realised what his intentions were.

Artemis landed on the front of the pod, his waist in line with Eggman's eye level. He glared down menacingly at the doctor, raised the hammer high, and exclaimed 'hey! My name's Artemis! I hope you remember me soon. This is for kidnapping me when I was four!' BANG! The hammer came quickly and viciously, crashing down on Eggman's right cheek, causing him to be knocked sideways. Eggman was momentarily stunned, partly from the attack, partly because he hadn't expected someone so small to deliver such a powerful hit.  
'This is for blackmailing my big brother!' BANG! A second, similar brutal attack came into contact with Eggman's left cheek.  
'And this is just for being plain mean to everyone!' He brought the hammer down a third time with equally brutal force. Eggman braced for impact as the attack seemed to be aiming for his bald head, raising his arms high over his head.

The impact never came, or at least not on his head, but instead a crash and whirring sound met his ears. Eggman opened one eye to see what the fox had just done, to find the Pico Pico hammer lodged into the control system, with Artemis hastily taking off from the vicinity. Controls sparked, screens flickered, red lights flashed and a warning beep sounded constantly as the Eggpod lost control and juddered in every direction. Eggman, Bocoe, Decoe and Bokkun all screamed in despair as the craft plunged towards the ground. Bokkun, taking the 'every robot for himself' approach, took off into the skies, watching his comrades plummet to the ground. The Eggpod skidded across the ground, ripping up turf and spewing grass and mud in every direction. Amy ducked behind a nearby tree to avoid being sprayed, while Artemis watched from above. The last thought that went through Eggman was _I wish I had prepared more!_

Meanwhile, Shadow took a run-up at the edge of the miniature cliff and leaped towards the cage, where Rogue worked away at the lock, which was proving stubborn. Landing on the roof of the cylindrical cage, Shadow peered down at Rouge's handiwork.

'Having trouble?' He asked. Rouge looked up and smiled as she recognised the face. Putting on her tedeous expression for asking for help she said 'oh, this lock is really stubborn and complicated. I bet you couldn't break it open?' Shadow groaned at the way she worded her sentence.  
'Incase you hadn't noticed, I am not Knuckles. If you wanted me to break it open, just say so. Now, stand aside.' At that, the bat hastily took flight as Shadow raised his fist and threw a spear of chaos energy at the lock, breaking it open with ease.  
'Finally, I'm free from that... that... thing! What fatso calls a cell, it feels more like a playground without slides. Or swings.'  
'What the..?' Shadow bent down and looked into the cell to see who was actually held within. To his utter astonishment, it appeared to be none other than the doll he had tailed earlier that same day. It seemed he was right to have thought it was important somehow. The doll looked at him for a few seconds, desperate to see it's saviour. And then it quite simply fell on its back. And lay there.

* * *

'What is it Grandpa?' the sweet voice of a girl spoke. It was the same room as before, filled with many computers, and a cryotube in the center. Warm arms ensnared the small doll and it was held closely to a chest. No doubt the girl's.  
'Why Maria, it is my experiment. I call him Shadow.' The doll look up at the doctor, an ageing man in a white labcoat and a long moustache.  
'Why Shadow?' the girl called Maria asks.  
'Because of what I am making him for. You would do anything to protect people, correct?'  
'Yes, but...' Maria loses her trail of voice as she cannot think of anything else to say.  
'And, if you could go to Earth, would you save it?'  
'Yes.'  
'That is what I am creating Shadow for. To watch over the Earth, to watch over you; like a shadow. A shadow follows you wherever you go, watches you for your whole life, does it not?' The doctor said in a philosophical tone. Maria briefly nodded, now understanding the true meaning of the name. 'He will watch over you wherever you go, follow you to the ends of the world and protect you until his dying breath. I know that you will, but when he is ready Maria, will you look after him and teach him? There is only so much I can build into his mind, but how he acts and treats others must be entirely dependent on what he learns himself. Will you do this Maria?' As the doctor had predicted, Maria nodded with a sweet smile, acknowledging her part in the scheme of things. Robotnik took a drink from a hip flask before carrying on. 'The doll you hold now was the preliminary experiment of simply reanimating objects and how well they can learn, and by the looks of things, it has worked extremely well. I trust he has been kind to you and you have looked after him adequetly?'  
'Oh yes grandpa, haven't you Tails?' The doll nodded in agreement as Maria looked down at him and smiled. They all full well knew that it's full name is Tails Doll, but it was too long winded, hence why everyone just called it 'Tails' instead. Or doll, or TD, but either one, he was still Tails Doll. He never really had a gender either, but Maria had decided he was male and had always referred to him as that, which too had stuck.

Nevertheless, the Tails Doll was Maria's own, through and through. Even as Shadow became more evolved, became more attached to Maria, became such good friends that they could be bonded to the hip, the Tails Doll was always there, always lightening dark moods, always proving that you don't need to be the Ultimate Lifeform to be the Ultimate Friend. When he escaped the ARK shortly after Shadow had been forced off, it tore him apart to know Maria would die that day.

* * *

There were no records of him ever being on Earth, ever showing his existence, so how he had ended up on Mobius instead was beyond anyone, had they known of his past. Created on the ARK before Shadow, he of course orginated on Earth, so he would have naturally ended up on the planet, as his forerunner had. There was also the question of why he had been dormant all these years until just last week, where he had just happened to bump into Sonic. Suffering from severe amnesia, he had reacted in the first way that he could think of – annoyance. There was no reason behind it, but to him, it felt right at the time, right to mock those around him, mock all that he met. It quickly turned into a habit and he was stuck with it. But now, with memory returned, that side was officially dead and gone. Theoretically anyway, the memories still served freshly in everyone's mind.

The doll sat up, looking at the saviours as Shadow picked him up and launched out of the cage to land, Rouge in tow. The trio walked over to where Eggman's pod now lay, as everyone else gathered and joined the circle. Eggman lay on the grass, stars flashing across his vision like a meteor shower. Likewise, Bocoe and Decoe were unceremoniously dismantled as their head lay nowhere near their bodies. To their sheer luck, they were still close enough for the wires to remain attached, allowing them to climb to their feet if they wanted to. But Amy standing over them with her mallet back in her own possession told them to remain so.

Sonic too joined the ranks and Tails flew by in the X-Tornado, circling the area incase there was some surprise attack waiting for them.  
'So Eggman, you gonna try that again any time soon?' Sonic mocked, bending down to get closer to his foe.  
'No,' he grumbled, admitting defeat. Sonic knew he wouldn't keep his word of course, but it was always fun to mess with Eggman after he had bitten the dust (or mud in this case).  
'Good,' Sonic finished with a smirk, standing back upright and waving to Tails to signal that they needed to be picked up. Tails quickly circled round and stopped in mid-air as the engines swivelled round to counteract the momentum, before pointing downwards to slowly lower the fighter. Everyone left Eggman to wollow in yet another disastrous defeat as they clambered in or on the X-Tornado, Shadow asking Tails for a lift back to the main land. Tails decided he would head there first, after confirming with everyone else that it was okay to head there first. Sonic insisted on taking the doll. The only one who would have thought anything of it was Tails, who knew the real reason of the whole rescue operation in the first place.

Everyone placed themselves in their original positions, the doll now in Sonic's hand, and Shadow took a seat in between the two wings that Sonic and Knuckles were resting on. The X-Tornado rose into the air, repeated the swivel once more as it turned into the direction of the mainland and began to gain speed.

The whirring stopped and a light switched on in the sentry's vision sensor. Having malfunctioned, it had missed out on the action. But now its systems finally came to life and everything began to function the way it should. Raising up from its hiding place. It quickly located the X-Tornado and protocols took over as it fired at the vessel. Bullets began to riddle the sides, leaving small holes scattered across the chassis. Now, due to the X-Tornado's finely tuned defenses and armour built to withstand high-calibre and even explosive rounds, this all would have been fine, unless a lucky shot managed to hit one of the three Mobians on the top. But, by all odds, a single bullet managed to penetrate the hull, piercing a single, yet crucial, wire, severing it entirely.

A small klaxon went off and red lights flashed violently on Tails' screen. Curious and concerned, he checked the problem, to find the connection from the computer systems to the engines had been severed (or 'lost connection' as it said on his screen), rendering them absolutely useless. In a response, the engines immediately shut off.  
'Oh no!' Tails shouted as his eyes widened. 'We're gonna crash!'  
'What?!' everyone shouted, Sonic considerably louder, looking down at the deep ocean below.  
'Please, don't do this to me Tails, you know I can't swim!' Sonic shouted, frantically looking for the highest point of the fighter, to find he was already on it. If he could see a star, he would wish on it. He figured that, because the sun was officially classed as a star, he would wish on that.

And it seemed that sometimes, wishes came true for the most desperate, as Tails spotted a single island. He guided the X-Tornado's nose to point at the island. As he did so, it seemed as if the small mass of land began to approach at an alarmingly aggressive rate. Everyone clutched onto their seats or the ends of the wings, preparing for the worst. Tails barred his teeth, the sides of his mouth drooping down and his eyes staying wide.

The crash came hard, stunning all, throwing those on the outside clean from the jet, and scattering tiny grains of sand in every direction. Anyone who was caught in the midst would be cut to pieces by the sand, or atleast stain the beach a blood red. The fighter slowly slid to a stop, just tapping a Palm tree on its rough trunk. And everything remained still. _I have a good feeling about this_ was the thought of one particular doll.


	10. A New Friend

Once again, thank you to Tailsisreal and Furryfur (still not understanding your review though) for reviewing ^_^

Only now has it occurred to me that this is the final chapter of this fanfic! I hadn't really realised how close I was (I knew I was close to it, but not this close!) until I re-read my plans and thought 'hold on... that bit happens in this chapter!'. So, sorry for this rather abrupt sign off, but I hope enjoyed this rather comedic story! :D Thank you to all reviewers and I had quite a bit of fun writing this. And to think, it all started out from a single thought that inspired a short comic strip, which in turn inspired this story as well as other things. That's what I call innovation. :D

* * *

Chapter 10: A New Friend

Blackness turned into blurred, multicoloured shapes as the kit began to wake up from the crash. He found himself suspended in the air, strapped tight to his chair by the harness he was wearing. A thought passed through him, and he felt quite sadistic as the thought said _safety first really does pay off_. He shook his head, in an attempt to clear the stars and blotches obscuring his vision, trying to make sense of the confusing images surrounding him. Looking at where the dashboard should be, Tails found various red lights blinking violently at him, but none telling him what was wrong. Or they might be, but he couldn't see them at the moment if his life depended on it.

His eyes slowly began to refocus and things started to make more sense to him. He looked out of the window, finding that he was indeed upside down, meaning the X-Tornado must have flipped at some point in the crash. Several feet above (or rather, below) him, lay what was unmistakably a beach, judging by the sandy yellow colour. The fact it was several feet from the cockpit told him the engines were rooted firmly to the ground, lifting the lighter end clean from the ground.

His vision continued to refocus, and pretty soon, everything was as pristine as it normally was. Tails rubbed his head. It felt as if some unknown force thought his head was a drum as it continued to pound him into submission. _I need to get outta here_ he thought, trying to keep his mind off the pain. He pressed the button that opened the canopy, which swung open in response. Thinking through as clearly as he could, he decided that releasing himself and then taking flight with his tails would be the best option. Checking they were still fully operational by waving the appendages around, he twisted them around one another, at the ready. He just hoped his trusty tails caught the air in time, or he wouldn't be that much use to anyone, let alone himself.

At the touch of a button, the harness snapped open, dropping Tails into an immediate free fall. At the same time, the spring-loaded tails launched into a violently fast rotation. Tails tried with all his might to catch the air in time, but the ground seemed to come too quickly and yelped as he realized that he would not make it without baring an injury. His aim now was to make it as painless as possible.

One leg hit the ground hard, just as he started to rise. Although nothing else sustained damage, his leg seemed to be quick to start throbbing from the impact and Tails took in a short gasp and bit his lip. He was duly lifted from the ground and the pressure came off of his leg. Trying to ignore the pain, he looked up back at the cockpit, where Artemis still hung. The younger fox was still out cold, showing no signs of movement. The fact there was no visible injury, and the slow rising and falling of the chest that Tails could still make out in the low light of the twilight sky, told him that the fox was still alive and kicking. If only he could be as sure with everyone else. Looking around, he found himself on a beach of a small island, judging by what he had seen earlier and the size of the beach that he could see, which wasn't exactly expanding along the horizon. To his left was a large cluster of trees dominating the centre of the island, abundant with odd vegetation.

Ignoring the rapidly increasing pain forming in his leg and the scenery, Tails flew upwards, towards Artemis. As he got closer, he could hear the heavy breathing. It was only a few short moments before he was close enough to realise what the fox was really doing.

'Oh, c'mon Arty!' Tails exclaimed a little too loudly as the sibling shifted position, making himself more comfortable in the harness. _How on Mobius did he end up asleep?! _Tails shouted in his own mind. He prodded the snoozing fox on the forehead, wondering if he would react. No. So he tried placing one hand flat on his chest and the other ready to press the harness release and catch the kit as he fell.

The harness popped open and Artemis imminently dropped. Tails' other hand caught him under one arm, while his other hand on the chest slipped under the other. The fox was still fast asleep, unaware that he was being carried. His mouth hung open and a single drop of spit leaked down his muzzle and dropped to the sandy beach below. Ignoring the slobbering, Tails hoisted the kit over his shoulder before descending back down. Artemis, of course, was still asleep. Tails wondered how the kit could do it, so he could do the same to Sonic one day, meaning he wouldn't have to get out of bed.

Tails touched down on the ground (wincing at the pain in his leg) and set Artemis down on a nearby tree. Making sure he was safe and comfortable (although it was tempting to leave him in an entirely awkward position, making him highly uncomfortable for when he woke up), Tails limped back over to the X-Tornado.

A loud, muffled 'hmmmff!' met Tails' ears. _Someone's awake!_ Was his immediate thought, although he had no idea who it was. Moving as fast as his injured leg would allow him, he rounded to the other side of the downed fighter to find a red figure with their head immersed in sand. Clearly, it was Knuckles, and try as he might, he couldn't seem to free himself from his miniature prison as the sand had engulfed his head entirely. He continued to make muffled noises continuously, hands pushing against the ground as hard as he could, but with surprisingly little progress. After a few more moments of struggling, he decided to stop and retrieve his shovel claws from their hiding place above his tail. Tails watched patiently as the Echidna began to pound at the sand with the claws, ripping the sand high into the air, showering the area with the golden finite particles.

As his head was freed, his fists began to slow down their momentum, but still smashing hard into the sand. After a few more moments of the spinning motion slowing down, Knuckles lifted his head from the sand and shook it, getting rid of what sand had been caught in his fur. Tails was tempted to call out something to do with ostriches to him, but a glance at the razor sharp shovel claws told him to back off. A leg that can't support his weight while stranded on an island is more than enough to be dealing with without gashes across various parts of his body because of an infuriated Knuckles.

As Knuckles silently acknowledged that Tails had also recovered from the crash, the fox's attention was quickly drawn to a large dark object spread-eagled flat on the floor. It was impossible to tell anything further than that from the low light, but judging by the spikes prodruding from the mass, it was most likely Sonic. Whoever it was lay motionless and unmoving, buried in the sand. Tails limped over and, checking it was indeed Sonic before stirring him, grabbed hold of one of the protruding spikes and shook it, a little more vigorously than was necessary. But it seemed to do the trick as the hedgehog stirred, but did not lift his head up.

'Five more minutes...' came a muffled voice from the object. _Yup, definitely Sonic,_ Tails thought to himself dully.  
'Sonic, get up!' Tails exclaimed, tugging at the quills.  
'I'm up, I'm up,' Sonic mumbled as he began to shake and stir, trying to wake himself up from the knock-out.

The others also started to gather, looking just as drowsy. Forming a semi-circle, consisting of Tails, Knuckles, Sonic, Rouge, Amy and Shadow. Rouge looked around, noting that everyone was here. Well, everyone except -  
'Hey, where's the other fox-boy?' she asked, realising Tails' smaller equivalent was not present. Tails silently pointed behind him with a thumb and muttered 'he's sleeping, but how I don't know.' Sonic looked at him with a confused expression, but neither said anything as neither knew what to do except to wait for him to wake.

'So how do we get off this rock?' Knuckles spoke out to the crowd, drawing the attention to a much more important issue. They all turned towards the X-Tornado and, after a small glare at the banged-up fighter, they all turned to face Tails. The kit sighed as he realised all of their eyes were now on him and stated 'I'll see what I can do. Maybe it's just reconnecting some wires, but I might need to fix the fuel pipe, the engines... The wings too, they look kind of out of shape. The systems might be malfunctioning too, I'll need to -'  
'- Tails -' Sonic tried to interject as his adopted brother delved into one of his techno-babbles that no one but the mechanical genius could understand (except Eggman of course).  
'- Maybe I should just get the basic systems working for now, leave out everything else that isn't necessary to get it started -'  
' - Tails -'  
'- Problem is, there's a lot of them, I could be a while. I wonder if there's a way in getting it done faster? I should run a diagnostic -'  
'- TAILS!' Sonic bellowed after his previous two attempts to catch the fox's attention utterly failed on him.  
'What? Oh... Heheh... I did it again, didn't I Sonic?' Tails rhetorically asked, as he struck his classical pose of embarrassment. As he did so, he looked around at everyone else, who all looked more confused than a five year old presented with the Laws of Quantum Physics. Sonic nodded and Tails muttered 'I'll get... wait.' Realising the position of the X-Tornado, still being upside-down, it occurred to him that he had no equipment on hand to flip it over. 'How am I gonna get it over?'

They all looked around, looking for something that could help. All except Rouge, who stood glaring at Knuckles.  
'What?' Knuckles asked, after catching her eye. 'If you're thinking of getting up close with me Rouge, now isn't the time.'  
'Actually, it's the perfect time. Who's the strongest here? You! You could just shove it over. C'mon, Knucky,' Rouge turned on her seductive powers as she did precisely what the Echidna told her not to do and grabbed on to his arm. 'Show me you're as strong as you say you are.'  
'Oh, I'll show you alright!' the hot-headed echidna yelled, rushing over to the side of the Tornado, making sure he was on the opposite side to the trees before using his immense strength to lift one side of the fighter and land it on the side Tails needed it to be on to be able to fix it properly. 'There! How's that for strength, eh?!' Knuckles shouted, looking rather pleased after showing his strength. Everyone sighed, all silently noting never to present something like that to Knuckles again, now knowing he would use it as a prime example to show his strength from then on. Tails was not pleased, but not at Knuckles' display, but rather at what the damage had been dealt to his beloved plane.

The wings were distorted at several angles, the hull was severely dented and riddled with low calibre bullet holes, the rim of the engines smashed inwards and -  
'Ermm... did you have to cut a circular hole in my window Rouge?' Tails asked as he looked at the rear seating that was half-buried in the sand before Knuckles had flipped it. The perfect circle could only shout Rouge as Amy's version of 'breaking and entering' (or in this case, exiting) involved quite literally 'breaking and entering' with her Pico Pico Hammer. Rouge's example, meanwhile, always had a hint of perfection in some place, and this was clearly not an exception.  
'Hey, the stupid thing wouldn't open, there was nothing else I could do,' she exclaimed, raising her hands in the air in defence. Tails grumbled. As much as it got battered bruised by Eggman's war machines, and as much as he respected Rouge's method in getting herself and Amy out of there, he didn't like people damaging his pride and joy. 'By the way Knucky, well done on being big-headed,' she added, teasing the echidna. Despite every one of them would be able to avoid Knuckles if they said anything of the sort, none of them was ready to admit they agreed with her.  
'Hey, you told me to flip it, so I did! So stop being a hypocrite, will ya?!' Knuckles shouted, raising his fists into a defensive position.

As an argument broke out, his eyes fluttered open at the sounds. Rubbing his eyes and blinking a few times to wake up, Artemis stood and headed towards the source, adjusting to the light as he did so.  
'Guys?' he called and, while everyone was still watching the fight, Tails turned to face his younger sibling.  
'Hey, you're awake!' Tails exclaimed as he walked over to Artemis, rubbing his little brother's head.  
'Yeah, I kinda woke up a while before you and I didn't want to touch anything in case something got broken, so I just stayed in the harness until I fell asleep.' Tails briefly nodded in acknowledgement, accepting the explanation.  
'Hey, you wanna help me fix this thing?' Tails added with a smile.  
'Can I!? Alright!' Artemis yelped in enjoyment, punching his fist in the air. Tails knew full well how much Artemis strived to be 'just like his brother', so maybe allowing him to help him out would help fulfil that. Although Artemis was not as skilled as Tails, as he liked to concentrate on 'smaller' things, he knew enough to be of use. Not to say Tails was planning on using him as a spanner monkey.

As everyone else relaxed on the dark beach, Tails retrieved a tool kit and two head flash-lights, one for him and one for Artemis, and set about repairing various components and showing Artemis several hints and tips. Meanwhile, Sonic lay on the sand, looking up at the Full Moon. It's reflection shined on the surprisingly calm surface of the ocean and, along what remained of the twilight hour, light up a considerable amount of the area. The dark shape of Angel Island loomed overhead, as still as ever.  
'Hey,' a high voice suddenly spoke to him from the right. Sonic shifted his head in the direction, to see the doll lying on its back next him. 'Sorry about all this, it's just... well, my life has been pretty scattered.' Sonic blinked as the doll began to unexpectedly confess itself to him. In truth, judging by what he knew of the doll's personality, he had never expected something remotely close to this. But, he was willing to listen and stayed silent to let the doll carry on. 'I shouldn't of gone through your diary. I should of just stayed out of the way and did something else, but I just _had_ to mess things up for you, and I'm going to be kicking myself for it now, now that I know who I am.'  
'Why are you saying all of this all of a sudden?' Sonic asked as the doll continued to pour its soul out to him.  
'Well, when I seen Shadow over there earlier,' the doll said, gesturing to the ebony hedgehog, 'my past just... came to me really, like he was a trigger or something. Made me remember who I am and how I was brought up and what I learned about people, how to treat them and stuff. My only friend is dead now and I'm never going to see her again, so could we start fresh and, you know, be friends?' They gazed into each others eyes, Sonic trying to read the voided black ones to see if there was any lines in the sentences. But he could see and feel that the doll spoke the truth. And he knew all too well what a new life means to somebody. He found it ironic that the one he was talking to now that needed that fresh start bared an uncanny resemblance to the one he gave a new life to several years ago.

Several thoughts spontaneously raced through Sonic's mind as many ideas were formed and scrapped. But after a moment or so, his mind settled on one. Out of everyone he knew, his mind settled on one that he knew would accept the pitiful doll and take care of it as was appropriate. He didn't want to take care of it himself as he doubted he would be able to handle the doll, given how he had treated it beforehand. Not to mention neither he or Tails could sew, so damages would be difficult to mend. But maybe there was someone else who knew all about looking after dolls. 'I have to go talk to Tails,' Sonic said as he stood up and walked over to the X-Tornado.

The two-tailed duo were dashing around the hull, tightening bolts and reshaping the exterior with Tails' augmented solder and giving orders to Artemis, who obliged very enthusiastically, darting around to the various places he was told to go to.  
'Hey Tails! Can I ask you something?' Sonic called. Tails lifted his protective goggles from his eyes and looked down at Sonic. 'Sure, what is it?' he asked. Sonic beckoned him and the kit jumped down from his perch on the wing. As Tails approached Sonic, the hedgehog leaned forwards and whispered something in his hear.  
'Sure, what is it?' Tails asked, confused at what Sonic had asked of him. The response was a simple notion towards the doll and Tails suddenly understood. He remembered about the week before, where he could have sworn the doll had shown a glimmer of hope when presented with the chance to have a friend. _Looks like you're getting one now_ he thought to himself, smiling as Sonic walked away. The kit then turned his attention back to the X-Tornado, pulling the goggles back over his eyes. The only way the doll could get that friend depended on whether the fighter would start up again.

* * *

After a snail-paced two hours, the X-Tornado was now in a state to fly safely. Both Tails and Artemis were covered from head to tails in grease and oil, but both looked very joyous at their success. Everyone clambered onto their earlier positions and Tails flared up the engines once more. The amount of light had only got worse as the night had continued and the sun had now completely disappeared over the horizon, leaving only the Moon to illuminate the area. The X-Tornado blasted off of the beach head and headed straight towards land, away from Angel Island.

The flight had only taken half an hour, and pretty soon they were over the mainland. There was a small village up ahead, all of its occupants now asleep or about to do so. With the doll in his hands, Sonic picked out one house in particular, surrounded by trees. The doll knew what was coming and had agreed to it ('couldn't there be a less painful way though?' it had pleaded). A note was tied around its neck, explaining what needed to be done to the person the doll was being given to. Sonic leaned over the side of the Tornado, waiting for the right moment. He had practised this technique many times before, only it was normally with bombs or himself on Eggman's robots, rather than dolls through windows. Still, it was the same principle, and since the doll had as much air resistance as himself, it should fall at the same speed. Unless a gust of wind blew it off course. Dropping the doll, he watched it fall towards the house, and as expected, right through the open window he had been aiming at.  
'Alright Tails, that's it!' Sonic shouted towards the cockpit. Tails gave a thumbs up and headed towards where they were going to drop Shadow, Rouge, Artemis and Amy off.

* * *

'Hee hee, stop it Cheese!'  
'Chao, chao!' the Chao chimed, as he dived in and out around Cream, quickly tickling various spots around her body, mainly in the armpits.  
'Okay, settle down you two, and get to sleep,' Vanilla called as she entered the room, hearing the commotion as she was on her way downstairs. Cream, in her pale blue pyjamas, slipped into her bed and Cheese tucked in beside her before snuggling up next to each other and, after bidding their mother good night, closed their eyes and readied themselves to enter their own fantasy world.

But a loud CRASH interrupted them before any dreaming could be done, because an object soared through the open window, crashing right into a lamp sat atop her drawers, shattering said object. Cream and Cheese sat up and yelled in fright, clinging to each other as the thought of being attacked so late at night was somewhat horrific.

As everything stayed still, Cream and Cheese began to relax, and pretty soon became curious. The young bunny swung her legs over the side of the bed and approached the wreckage, one slow step at a time. Cautiously, she moved the pottery to one side, half expecting the object to jump out at her, almost as if it was one of Eggman's creations. But as the debris was cleared, it soon occurred to her what she was finding. The doll lay there, unconscious and with a note tied around its neck. She took the note and read it to herself.

_Dear Cream,_

_Take care of this for me will you? He, or she, or whatever it is, needs a friend and I just thought you might be the right person to look after it._

_From Sonic._

_P.S. I don't think it has a name. Maybe you could name it?_

Cream finished the short note, and looked down at the doll, noticing how much it resembled Tails. As it came to, she picked it up under the arms and examined it closely, picking out the various features such as the twin tails and the gem dangling from a metal rod protruding from its head.  
'Hello!' Cream said, looking into its eyes.  
'Huh? Oh... hello. You must be Cream?' the doll asked, as the room began to come into view. 'Sonic told me about you,' it added as Cream nodded. She smiled at the doll, and jumped to the first question she had, 'in the note it says you haven't got a name. Would you like one?'  
'Umm...' the doll paused, wondering if it should say whether it has a name, or let the bunny come up with a new one.  
'Yes,' the doll decided. 'Yes, I would like one please.' Cream bit her lower lip as she tried to think of a name. After trying to think of something more creative than what had come to her mind at first, she settled on that name as nothing else would come to. 'I know, Tails Doll!' she exclaimed hugging it to her chest.  
'Eheh... I like that name, I guess,' the doll said, thinking only of how ironic this was.  
'Welcome to the family then! This is Cheese by the way, and you just missed my mom' Cream motioned towards the Chao, which in turn chided once more.  
'Nice to meet you,' the doll said, delighted at how fast the friendship was forming. 'Would it be okay if I stayed with you then?' Although it already knew the answer because it had now been named, it still wanted that firm confirmation.  
'Of course it is! Me and Cheese will look after you, won't we Cheese?'  
'Chao!'  
'Umm...' the doll said, looking around. 'Is there anywhere I can sleep? Only, I don't see anything comfortable around to sleep on.'  
'Oh, that's okay, you can sleep with me for now,' Cream exclaimed. The doll nodded and allowed itself to be swept away with the rabbit to the bed.

Cream jumped into the quilts, thinking that it would be best to explain to her mother in the morning. With Cheese and the Tails Doll snug up with her, she and Cheese closed their eyes and soon fell asleep. Of course, having no eyelids, the Tails Doll could do no such thing and instead stared at the ceiling until the world would just black out, as what would normally happen. _Boy, it's good to have friends again. _As the thought passed through, the world blacked out and pretty soon, the world became a new that only the doll could control. And in this world, it could feel the Sunshine coming down on the doll, while in the arms of its new friends, Cream and Cheese. It looked like life was going to be much better than what it had thought of before.

* * *

'You sure it's going to be okay Sonic?' Tails asked. They had just landed in the hangar, just him and Sonic now that everyone else had returned to their homes.  
'Sure it will, I don't think anyone knows how to look after dolls like Cream,' Sonic stated, assuring the kit that the doll would be safe.  
'And what if it tells her what it knows about you?' Tails informed him, thinking of what the doll had told Sonic and why this whole ordeal had happened.  
'It's already apologised to me for it, I'm pretty sure it'll hold its tongue.'  
'I wonder what she'll call it?' Tails asked, although he probably knew the answer. 'Tails Doll,' he said out loud, not waiting for an answer from Sonic. They chuckled lightly and headed upstairs into the house.  
'Boy, this whole thing's been quite tiring actually,' Sonic exclaimed, giving a large stretch.  
'Would never have you would say _that _Sonic! You always run around at who knows how fast, and you never get tired. You're telling me that little trip wore you out?' Tails said, starting to play with Sonic, with a sly grin across his face.  
'No... Well... I... Umm...' he couldn't think of a comeback as his mind was blank from the ordeal and everything that had happened and everything that could happen and other things that he couldn't precisely place his finger on. So, Sonic sighed, raised his hands in defeat and said, 'okay, ya got me.' As they climbed the stairs, Sonic rubbed his throat as it suddenly began to get sore. He dismissed it as dehydration, he hadn't had a drink for several hours. Tails however, noticed the action and asked 'Sonic, you okay?'  
'Yeah, I'm fine Tails, don't worry. I just need a drink, that's all.' And at that, he headed into the kitchen to grab a glass of water.  
'Okay, if you say so. Night Sonic.'  
'Night bud,' Sonic called over his shoulder as Tails headed upstairs to his room. _Somehow, I doubt that's dehydration_ Tails thought to himself, with a gut feeling, as he slipped off his shoes and gloves and clambered into bed.


End file.
